Mark of the Kyuubi
by Tirail
Summary: Naruto is captured by Akatsuki and Kyuubi offerrs him a way out, but what will the fox's gift mean for Naruto's dreams? Now containing slight crossover elements, character death, torture, and swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Techniques are translated at the bottom of the page.

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or techniques created by Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"You have caused us quite a bit of trouble, but it seems that your luck has finally run out." 

"I'm not out yet Itachi! Take this! **Rasenshuriken!**" Naruto cried, charging the wounded Akatsuki member.

"You do not pay attention do you?" Itachi avoided the hurricane of destruction and stabbed the blond jinchuuriki through the heart. "That's the third time you tried that trick, the first two times you still had two arms and you used clones to make it faster, yet you still tried it again in your current state. It would seem my worthless otouto was actually right for once, you truly are a loser."

"Don't underestimate me dammit!" Naruto erupted in a storm of demonic charkra as his features became more fox-like.

Itachi withdrew his blade from Naruto's chest and kicked him away. "You know I only agreed to hunt down bijuu for Akatsuki because I thought they would be a good measure of my own power, which is why I gladly accepted when Leader-sama asked me to hunt down the kyuubi's jinchuuriki. After all what greater measure of one's power could there be than the mightiest of the bijuu, supposedly the most powerful creatures in existence, instead I am disappointed time and again in my hunt." Itachi stares at Naruto who is now so engulfed in an aura of deep crimson chakra in the shape of a four-tailed fox that his body cannot be seen. "I cannot believe that the kyuubi is this weak, Orochimaru and my otouto were more challenging than you."

The chakra fox roared in fury at these words as it grew to a six tailed form and charged at the smirking Uchiha.

"You may be far more powerful than me in this state, but it is not such an overwhelming amount of power as to make up for your lack of skill." Itachi began preforming handsigns before calling out, "**Kokuun no Jutsu!**" causing oil to rain down on Naruto. "Hn... you don't even have enough intellect left in this state to realize when you are charging into an attack." He proceeds to avoid slashes from the chakra claws trying to hit and states, "It would seem it is not even worth it to draw this out any longer since you seem to be fighting worse as you draw on more of the fox's power, at least when you used your own power you managed to wound me." Staring at the oil soaked chakra construct Itachi's eyes transformed into the Mangekyou Sharingan and he unleashed his last attack with a whisper of, "**Amaterasu**." The enraged jinchuuriki didn't stand a chance as the black flames from Itachi's eyes connected with his oil soaked form and rapidly spread across his entire body.

As the kyuubi withdrew its chakra into Naruto so it could focus on making sure he survived the flames Naruto regained control of his body and immediately blacked out from the pain of the fires from Amaterasu.

* * *

"Damned fox what the hell where you doing charging into Amaterasu while covered in oil!!" 

"**Shut up you pathetic human. I had nothing to do with that idiocy, it was all you."**

"Bullshit fox you're chakra was in control which meansYOU were in control!"

"**Mortal haven't we already established that I don't want you dying?"**

"Yeah, but maybe you decided to change your mind since the seal has been weakening!"

"**Grrr... QUIET DOWN YOU INSOLENT WORM!! When you call on my chakra it is yours to use as you will. I have nothing to do with anything it does while you're manipulating it..."**

"But what about that fox shaped aura it takes? Isn't that due to your manipulations? Well!! Isn't it?!"

"**Didn't I tell you to SHUT UP! Since you're stuck in here for awhile I will explain all of that as long as you don't talk! Got it?" **With no comments forthcoming from the blonde human before him the mighty kitsune continued with, **"as I was saying while my chakra is under you're control I can only call it back to me or give more to you. The fox shaped aura is because I typically used most of my chakra to form a body for me and it just got used to forming my body when not in use. The reason why I used my chakra to create my body is because I didn't have a physical body, and I used so much of it for that purpose because nothing not even I can control that much power. Now as to why you have no control over yourself after drawing upon enough of my chakra is because it calls all your hatred to the surface and cause your own destructive impulses to take control of your actions. Now did you get all that or did you still have questions human?"**

"Uhhh first of all why does it causes my uhhh... destructive impulses to take control, second of all why can't I suppress them, third why are you actually explaining this with a minimal numbers of insults and threats, and finally could you maybe repeat it all again?" Naruto sheepishly asked the massive nine-tailed fox imprisoned before him.

"**In order the answers are because I'm the embodiment of hatred and destruction thus my chakra is the essence of that, because you're a weak human, because** **I don't want to listen to your whining and complaining till you regain consciousness, and no."**

"Umm well when do you think I'm gonna wake up?"

"**Right after I give you a parting gift and tell you how to get away from those mortals that believe they can use my power for their own ends."**

"What gift? GAHHH." Naruto screamed in pain as the demon's chakra wreathed his body in a blood red haze. When the haze cleared Naruto looked the same as before except for a tattoo of a tailless fox on his right hand. When he recovered from the pain Naruto quickly noticed the mark, coincidentally on the only hand he had remaining on his corporeal body. "What the hell did you do to me kitsune-teme!"

"**That would be my gift to you. It is my mark aside from the fact that now if you ever meet any demons that are still free in your world they will run away from you in terror of that mark, and it is what will allow you to kill all the members of Akatsuki, recover from all the injuries you have, and recover your chakra all in one fell swoop."**

"Cool! Ano... but how do I use it?"

"**I was getting to that human. To use it you simply have to channel your chakra into it, all of your chakra."**

"What! That'll kill me baka-fox!"

"**You doubt the great and mighty Kyuubi-no-Kitsune?! Impudent fool why would I give you something that you have to kill yourself to use? After all I can't let you die until I can get out of here to kill you myself. ****Now wake up and kill those who oppose us like the pathetic insects they are!"**

* * *

Regaining consciousness in the real world once more Naruto immediately noticed the presence of all the surviving Akatsuki members he was aware of as well as two he hadn't known of. 'Hmm... lets see there Itachi and Kisame. Huh they feel like they're at full strength again. Guess I was out for awhile. Those two would be Tobi and Zetsu which means the two unfamiliar ones are the leader of Akatsuki and the second most powerful member? Crap no time to think about that I can feel them trying to draw out Kyuubi, would've expected it to hurt more, so I've gotta see if I can move or use that tattoo of the fox's.' 

As Naruto struggled to move his burned body the survivors of Akatsuki looked on with surprise and a small amount of fear. After all the charred man laying before them should have been on the edge of death hopefully weakening the bijuu within him. If he was conscious and well then the bijuu might be at or near its full power, thus making the **Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin **an incredible risky venture with only six people. 'We've only been at this for two days, yet he is already recovered enough to move. If he continues to recover at this pace we won't be able to finish before the kyuubi breaks free.' "Kisame pin him in place with Samehada."

"Hai Leader-sama" 'If this messes up the sealing I better not get blamed for it.' Kisame threw Samehada at Naruto catching him in the left shoulder and pinning him to the ground while draining his chakra.

Naruto grunted in pain but continued trying to move his right arm. "Hey you Akatsuki bastards I got a little gift for you from the fox." Naruto channeled all his chakra into the tattoo on his raised right arm and said, "**Feel the power of the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune and despair mortals!" **Naruto's hand glowed blood red as if it was full of Kyuubi's chakra as the fox tattoo roared and sprouted nine tails. Tendrils of chakra flowed from the tattoo to all of the members of Akatsuki like tails and plunged into their hearts with one also engulfing Samehada. As their chakra was drained into the tattoo they collapsed one by one into shriveled husks that were once human beings. Samehada turned into dust as all the chakra it had eaten and even the chakra the comprised the living sword itself was drawn into the demonic marking. After consuming the Akatsuki members and the blade the tattoo pulsed with energy, some it released into Naruto to replenish his nearly depleted stores, some went to fixing all the wounds inflicted upon him, and some simply vanished yet there was still a large excess of chakra which was released from the mark in a massive blast of pure destructive energies. This wave of destruction removed from existence all remaining traces of the Akatsuki including the king of hell statue which contained 7 of the nine bijuu. Naruto gazed in awe at the destruction, where he had been in a cave surrounded by Akatsuki in front of a statue he was now in a debris field under the open sky surrounded by seven bijuu. Noticing the towering demon lords surrounding him Naruto said the first thing that came to mind, "Kuso, this can't possible end well."

"**You! You're the gaki that woke my container up last time I got free! I still need to kill you for that!**" Inhaling a massive amount of air Shukaku then pounded on his chest to release a **Fuuton : Renkuudan** at the unfortunate mortal amidst the demon lords.

Swatting the projectile aside before it can hit Naruto the Nibi states, **"Shukaku** **why do you seem to be getting dumber every time we meet, even I can tell that this human contains Kyuubi-sama within him."**

"**So? Why can't I kill him? I would think Kyuubi would want us to free him."**

"**Kyuubi-sama was sealed by Shinigami, thus killing his container would most likely kill him as well. Besides the human freed us from that damn statue we could at least let him live because of that."**

"**Bah you and you soft spot for humans. You just don't want to kill him cause he's human, don't you ya damn cat."**

"**Do you want to die Shukaku? Or has being imprisoned for so long simply made you forgetful? You have never been able to beat me in a fight and you have only gotten weaker with your long imprisonment."**

"HEY WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME SPEAK!" Getting upset with the demons arguing Naruto calls on two tails worth of Kyuubi's chakra. Seeing that the gathered bijuu have quieted down Naruto begins to repeat what Kyuubi is telling him to say. **"Disgraces to the title of demon lord listen and listen well cause I have no intentions of repeating myself and I would rather not kill you all just yet. Now I had no intention of letting you out of that statue since you all quite frankly disgust me what with letting yourselves be captured by humans and all. However the fact remains that I did free you which means you all owe me a favor. I don't have any particular need of a favor from any of you just yet, but I do expect all of you to agree with it no matter what when I call on you to collect that favor. Now like I said before I can't particularly stand any one of your presences let alone all of you at once so go back to doing whatever the hell it was you did while free and try not to get captured again cause I don't wanna have to free you to call in my favor." **With the bijuu threatening and complaining to Naruto he decided to up the ante and call out more tails until he was displaying more power than all but two of the gathered bijuu. Upon seeing that the human could call up as much or as little of kyuubi's power as he wanted they quieted down to mere grumbling and began leaving to where ever it is that bijuu spend most of their time. 'Well that went better than expected. Now what the hell is up with this tattoo, when I first saw it the fox had no tails now it has nine like kyuubi's and they go up to my shoulder.' After thinking about what it could mean Naruto decided just to ask the fox. After all it wasn't like he knew where he was or which way to go to find a town.

* * *

"**Back already huh? Guess I must be growing on you if you want to visit me this much oh great jailer-sama."**

"I would have thought that the great Kyuubi-no-Kitsune was above petty sarcasm. Guess not eh fox-teme?" Smirking at the giant fox that was slowly growing more enraged by the second before him Naruto suddenly grew serious and stared into the burning red orbs that the fox had for eyes. "Why is your mark spreading Kyuubi? And no lying or withholding information this time. Tell me everything there is to know about this mark or I swear I will find some way to make your imprisonment even worse, and if you ever get free I will make sure to hunt you down and imprison you once more if I can't kill you."

"**You serious about this aren't you? Fine I'll tell you about it. However I expect you to not try getting out of the contract that mark represents."**

"What contract?"

"**That mark symbolizes that you agree to be my servant until I die. Being my servant comes with the following responsibilities: you must do everything you can to protect my life, you must follow all orders I give you unless following them will result in you breaking the contract, you are able to act with my full authority in all matters, you are able to call one my kin for aide when necessary, you are my avatar in my absence, and you must give a sacrifice to me whenever possible. In addition to symbolizing your agreement to this contract the mark also acts as a medium through which you give your sacrifices of chakra and souls to me. The mark also gives a portion of the chakra to you and uses portions of the souls to heal you. The mark itself also consumes some of the sacrifice and releases any of it that I don't want and you can't use as a wave of destructive energy that makes** **any jutsu you humans have look as pathetic as it really is. Got all that?"**

"Mostly, but a few parts still bother me. For one what are the tails coming from the mark for and for another how am I suppose to protect your life when simply getting old is endangering your life since you die when I do?"

"**Glad you asked servant. Now the tails represent the efficiency of the transfer of energy from the mark to you and me. Normally one tail would go to each of the eight gates and the ninth tail would go around your arm and back to the mark, but since I'm sealed in you that ninth tail will go to my seal. Once the tails reach their destinations the mark will no longer release a destructive pulse after it absorbs chakra and souls, in addition you will then be able to control who it affects when used. Until then however the mark will drain anything in range."**

"So using it when people I don't want to die are present would be a bad idea until the tails stop growing?"

"**Yeah it would probably be a bad idea. Now as to how you are going to follow that stipulation of the contract is easy, the mark will turn you into a demon as the tails progress. Once they reach their destination you become a full-blooded demon. Not quite sure what type of demon you will be since that's based on the individual bearer of the mark not on me."**

"Nani?! I'm gonna turn into a demon! Damn you kitsune-teme now I'm gonna get executed when I get back to Konoha." Naruto began ranting indistinctly in outrage at the news of his fate until kyuubi had enough.

"**SHUT UP! Its not likely you're gonna turn into a fox so they probably won't mistake you for me, and anyways you're a ninja so just hide any demonic traits from your foes, which in this case will be everyone. Become unnoticable and sneaky like the ninja you claim to be and until you tell them no one should realise you're a demon."**

"Well I guess that kinda makes sense..." Sitting down and thinking about the situation Naruto realises there doesn't seem to be too much of a downside to the deal which for the fox is rather unusual. "Hey Kyuubi what do you get out of all this?"

"**I get to avoid dying, a respectable container, and fed. What more could I want?"**

"Freedom?"

**"Freedom from this seal means death, of the two options I for one would prefer life no matter that it will be spent stuck inside you. Now wake up some of your associates are approaching." **

* * *

Rasenshuriken - Spiral Shuriken 

Kokuun no Jutsu - Black Clouds Technique

Amaterasu - Goddess of the Sun Technique

Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin - Complete Nine Mystical Dragon Seal

Fuuton : Renkuudan - Wind Element : Drilling Air Projectile


	2. Chapter 2

I don't not own Naruto or anything else created by Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"Hey gaki quit laying down on the job. Tsunade would unman me if she found out I let you sleep while she is worrying herself into a drunken stupor." 

Regaining consciousness Naruto blinked wearily at the strange talking blur of white, red, and green. "Huh? Ero-sennin what're you doing here?"

"Looking for you. When your team returned to Konoha with the news that you gotten captured by Akatsuki she sent everyone she could out looking for you."

"In other words she only sent you cause the council wouldn't let her send anyone else, but they couldn't stop you."

Sheepishly Jiraiya replied, "Uh yeah actually that's exactly what happened."

"So just where are we Ero-sennin?"

"Well actually we're in Bird Country. This area used to be a cave, but from reports it blew up about three days ago. I'm guessing that was your doing."

"Yea! I took out all of Akatsuki!" 'Probably shouldn't tell him I also released all the Bijuu they had.'

"Oh really and just how did you manage that when you were their prisoner?"

"Easy. Kyuubi helped!"

"Gaki they wouldn't have been able to capture you at all if you could overwhelm them with Kyuubi's chakra so throughly that you didn't get seriously injured."

"No no no not the fox's chakra the fox itself." Revealing the tattoo Naruto said, "See this mark allows me to do all sorts of cool tricks. That includes releasing a wave of power that destroys anything it hits."

Looking wise and serious Jiraiya looks into Naruto's eyes and says, "There is no way the Kyuubi would give you something that powerful unless it had a cost, has the fox told you the cost or do you not know."

"Well there is a small cost."

"You can tell me what it is Naruto, after all worse case scenario you just can never use it again."

"Do you swear not to tell anyone?"

"Yes."

"Not even Tsunade-baa-chan?"

"Well..."

"If you can't promise me I'm not telling you."

"Fine I promise, but only on the condition that there is nothing she can do about it even if she knows."

"Deal. Okay so the biggest and most important down sides to the mark are that I can't control what it affects yet and that it turns me into a demon the more a use it."

"Well the first one isn't a problem, but the turning into Kyuubi one is. Now I'm..."

"Ero-sennin! I never said it would turn me into Kyuubi!"

"You didn't? I could've sworn I heard something about turning into a demon..."

"Yeah a demon not Kyuubi itself."

"Well what demon are you going to turn into if the mark doesn't turn you into Kyuubi?"

"Me."

"Me? I don't know of any demons called me."

"No that's not the demon's name that is what demon it'll turn me into. A demon version of me."

"So the mark simply destroys indiscriminately when used and slowly makes you a demon?"

"Yea."

"Well... that actually doesn't sound like too bad of a deal from the Kyuubi, but still try not to use it unless you have no other choice. And if anyone asks about the mark just say you thought that the design would make for a cool tattoo or something."

"That's pretty much what I was going to do anyway. Now can we get back to Konoha I miss Sakura-chan."

"Sure, but don't you wanna stop off in Suna since it's on the way?"

"Nah don't want to distract Gaara from that paperwork he enjoys so much!" Rushing off back towards Konoha while thinking on the conversation with Jiraiya Naruto decided it was a good idea not to mention the bit about being Kyuubi's servant. After all it's not like he'd have to do anything he wouldn't normally... right?

* * *

At the gate the two returning shinobi were held up by the guards. "Naruto you really did it this time. I mean getting captured by Akatsuki? Do you actually try to cause as much trouble as you can or is it a strange coincidence that importantly troublesome events that occur closely involve you?" 

"Eh-heh-heh I guess I'm just lucky like that Shikamaru."

"Gah Naruto you had everybody worried with that stunt of yours! I mean really you go and try to fight off two S-class missing nins on your own just so that the team of Jounin with you can return to Konoha safely."

"But Ino-chan its not like those three would've been any help in holding off Itachi or Kisame. At least by sending them to Konoha I had a chance for them to get reinforcements to come and help."

"You baka Konoha was two days travel from there. By the time they got reinforcements and returned you could've been killed or worse. Which is exactly what happened!"

"Look I'd hate to break up the lovely couples reunion, but Naruto and I really need to go report to Hokage-sama."

"Yeah yeah hurry it up will you Jiraiya-sama I'm not sure hold long I can hold Ino back."

"See-ya Shikamaru, Ino-chan."

"Oh Shika-kun. Just why would you need to hold me back from showing the great Jiraiya-sama my appreciation at returning Naruto-kun to us?"

Looking between the quickly fleeing Sannin and apprentice and the blonde before him Shikamaru could only think of replying with, "Troublesome woman." Unfortunately that wasn't the right answer and he later regained consciousness in the middle of the village wearing a bright pink dress with the a sign reading, "Will do any work for free! Ignore all complaints." Attached to his back with chakra.

* * *

Outside of the Hokage's office said Sannin and his apprentice were trying to decide who would go in first. "Okay now on the count of three. One. Two. Three." 

"Ha-ha I win Ero-sennin! Scissors beats paper now get in there and report to Baa-chan. I'm heading to Ichiraku's."

"Oh come on. Isn't it best two out of three?"

"Actually it was eleven out of twenty and I won all twenty times. Now get in there and face her like a man."

Being pushed towards the door Jiraiya played his last card, "If I'm going in there I'm taking you with me Naruto." And thus he grabbed the twenty-one year-old Jounin ninja of the leaf and began to drag him kicking and screaming into the Hokage's office.

"Nooooo lemme go Ero-sennin she'll kill me for this! You gotta let me go if she doesn't beat me to death for letting myself get captured she'll hug me till I suffocate!"

"Shut up brat you say that like it's a bad way to go or something. Have you learned nothing from me as my apprentice?"

"The point is I didn't escape Akatsuki just to die here!"

"Too late we're already in her office."

"Na-ru-to. Just what were you thinking?"

Getting out of the pervert's grip Naruto bravely turned around to the source of the falsely sweet voice he heard. "Hey Baa-chan I just thought that I could take out Akatsuki from the inside." 'Yeah I'm sure she'll buy that one. That excuse was almost as bad as one of Kakashi's.'

"Oh really and just how did this mission go Naruto?"

Trying to hide behind Jiraiya Naruto replied, "Complete success all known and unknown members of the Akatsuki organization are dead."

"Jiraiya is this true?"

"Um which part?"

Glaring at the two who were stalling while trying to sneak out the window she said, "All of it, now sit down or else."

Now truly frightened the two shinobi quickly sat in the chairs in front of her desk where at least the paperwork would shield them from her glare. "I found no traces of any Akatsuki members at Naruto's location, but I also only found scattered pebbles remaining from the cave that was supposed to be there."

"So you two are telling me that Uzumaki Naruto came up with a plan to infiltrate the akatsuki by being captured so that he could destroy them while they tried to extract the Kyuubi from him, and then succeeded in this self appointed mission so well that there wasn't even enough left of them for identification?"

"Well Baa-chan when you put it that way of course it sounds unbelievable."

"I'm not going to get any other story from you two am I?" Looking over the paperwork at their shaking heads she just sighed and said, "Fine I'll accept that for now, but I'm not telling anyone about it just in case you made it up. Now Naruto I want you to report to the hospital for a post-mission check-up. I know you've probably healed from any injuries you obtained, but I want to make sure. Besides Sakura is on duty at the hospital right now which means you were going to be going there anyway. If you are approved for duty by the medical staff report to my office tomorrow for your next assignment. Dismissed."

Watching Naruto rush off to the hospital Jiraiya stayed in behind to speak with Tsunade alone. "Tsunade I'm not sure about the self-appointed mission bit and he hardly pulled it off without problems, but I think the part about Akatsuki being wiped out was true. In order to escape capture the Kyuubi apparently put some kind of demonic seal on him. He told me some of its effects and none of them seem that bad, but I can't help but think he knew more about it than he said."

Pulling out some sake Tsunade sighed then said, "He would tell us if there was anything dangerous about it. Even if he didn't if it is doing anything harmful to him they should be able to tell at the hospital. Now if that's all there is to report how about we celebrate your return with Naruto by getting drunk?"

* * *

In an examination room Naruto is suffering through his checkup by Sakura. "Sakura-chan you know that if I'm conscious when I come in here I'm fine so why can't you just write down that I'm fit for duty?" 

"Because Naruto its my job to make sure that you are in fact fit for duty and you aren't exactly known for resting when you need to. Now stop squirming and this will go faster."

Pouting at his treatment Naruto decided to see what had happened while he was gone. "Ne Sakura-chan what happened while I was away?"

"Well as you saw when you came in Ino and Shikamaru have been stuck with guard duty for the next few weeks after they helped Shizune keep Tsunade-shishou awake and sober at work for a whole week." Being interrupted by Naruto's laughter she said, "Naruto hold still or I'll never be able to finish this. So anyways Gai-san and his team are still on that long term mission to find out how Oto is doing after Akatsuki's assault on Orochimaru. No one has seen Hinata in about a week due to some Hyuuga thing that is going on. Kurenai was finally sent on a mission outside of Fire Country. She is on mission to wave along with Kiba and Chouji. Finally Shino is busying getting his Genin team ready for the upcoming Chuunin exams. And that would be it, also you're free to go I'm done with the checkup and your fine."

"Thanks Sakura-chan!"

"By the way Naruto, when did you get the tattoo?"

"Huh? Oh you mean the fox? I got it after taking out Akatsuki!"

"Yeah right Naruto. If you don't want to tell me just say so no need to make up excuses like Kakashi-sensei."

"Eh yeah right. Well bye Sakura-chan!" Leaving the hospital to go to Ichiraku's Naruto can't help but think, 'Guess I don't have to worry about keeping it a secret if not even Sakura believes me about Akatsuki. Wonder what kind of mission Baa-chan has for me. And what kind of favor could the fox want from the other Bijuu. Dammit this mess is making me think to much! I'll just get ramen, sleep, and then get that mission first thing in the morning.'

* * *

"Wake up Tsunade-baa-chan I'm here for my mission not to watch you nap!" 

Hitting him in the head Tsunade replied with, "Dammit Naruto stop calling me that, and just what the hell are you doing here this early the sun's barely even up!"

"Well I'm bored mostly I can't really train on my own to become Hokage anymore and nobody I can spar against is awake or even in the village."

Releasing a long suffering sigh at Naruto's antics Tsunade wearily says, "Naruto are you ever going to grow up? Never mind I'm afraid of the answer. Anyway I do have a mission for you and you in particular. It's an S-rank mission from the Kazekage and he specifically requested you and Jiraiya. Due to the lack of details and the missions rank I'm going to send Sakura and Kakashi with you two. Got it?"

"Yeah, so can I go get them now?"

"No, Naruto let Jiraiya and Sakura wake up on their own, once Sakura reports to me for work I'll have the two of you track down Jiraiya and Kakashi."

"Alright, but if I'm going to be waiting on them can I at least train from the forbidden scroll?"

"Naruto how many times have I told you that I'm not letting you read that scroll again so long as I'm Hokage?"

"I lost count around 1,056,348,912,700 times."

"You actually counted? Whatever if it was that many times why do you keep asking!? Now get out of here and go bug someone else for a change!"

As he walked out of the Hokage's office Naruto heard a dark voice speak to him. **'Go to the training grounds servant.'**

Shocked Naruto recognized it as, 'Kyuubi!'

'**Correct now do as I say servant.'**

Figuring that following orders from the fox was better than boredom at the moment he set off to the training grounds and only asked the fox, 'How are you talking to me right now?'

'**The mark lets me communicate with you no matter what separates us.'**

'Alright here we are now what?'

'**Now you are going to meditate so I can draw you in here easier. It is less trouble to talk to you face-to-face.'**

Cursing the fox under his breath Naruto gets into a meditation pose not unlike Shikamaru's thinking pose. 'Well fox when are you gonna draw me into your prison?'

"**I already have servant now open your eyes and listen up. If you meet Shukaku on this mission don't under any circumstances use the mark. Not only would it not affect Shukaku. Unless there was something else around for it to affect it would kill you."**

"Uh-huh is there anything I didn't know that you want to tell me?"

Growling at his servant the Kyuubi simply said, **"Yes actually. In the interest of you not getting killed by more skilled opponents I want you to see if you can track down the ruins of a city I destroyed a few centuries back. It was located in what is now Wind Country somewhere in the western reaches of the desert I believe. If you can find the ruins look through them for any weaponry or information on their weapons and techniques to take for your use."**

"Why?"

"**Because they had weapons and techniques that even managed to hurt me when I was destroying their city. Now go see if your teammates are ready to go yet, if not make them ready you've wasted enough time."**

"Yeah I'm going you damned fox." Returning to the outside world Naruto found himself still alone in the middle of the training grounds. Looking at the position of the sun he realized the fox had kept him for a few hours, and so he went straight to Tsunade's office expecting the others to already be there. He was unfortunately right.

"Hm. Naruto I thought I was the one who was always late."

"Well I at least have a good excuse!"

"Oh and what is it?"

"I was meditating."

"Naruto! That excuse might be good for someone else, but there is no way anyone would believe you were meditating!"

Closing the new book Jiraiya had given him Kakashi commented, "She's right that was a pretty bad excuse even by my standards."

"Fine! Whatever I'm here now so can we go already."

Looking to Tsunade for her approval Jiraiya said, "We're all ready to go Naruto you were the only thing we were waiting on so... yes we can go now."

Rushing out Naruto said, "Hurry up then! We're running late!"

Giving a communal sigh of defeat the other three followed.


	3. Chapter 3

Techniques are translated at the bottom of the page.

I do not own Naruto or anything that is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"So you specifically requested Naruto and Jiraiya for an S-rank mission which is apparently escorting you to a sandstorm in the far reaches of the desert. A sandstorm which is apparently of unusual intensity and has persisted longer than it should have right?" 

"That is indeed the situation Kakashi-san."

"It seems like a bit too high a rank for such a simple mission, and there doesn't seem to be any reason for you to contact Konoha requesting two shinobi in particular for this mission. So why don't you share your suspicions about this storm with us Kazekage-sama."

"Sandstorms of this type are not unprecedented in our history, actually. We've had several fairly recently in our history. The most recent ones generally coincide with every time I fell asleep as a child."

"Ah that is a good reason to make this mission S-class and request those two, but if your suspicions turn out to be true just what do you intend to seal it into?"

"Where it would be most convenient and safest."

"Very well Kazekage-sama we are ready to preform the mission whenever you are ready."

"Shouldn't the rest of your team be informed?"

"They all decided to skip out on the briefing so... I'll tell them later."

"Just be sure to do so before we have to fight Shukaku."

* * *

"Hey Gaara we've been traveling through this desert for almost a week now aren't you going to tell us what the mission is?" 

"I told Kakashi. He will tell you when he feels it is necessary."

Looking around the desert and seeing nothing around Naruto asked, "Hey Gaara we are near the western edge of the Wind country desert right?" Seeing Gaara's nod Naruto continued, "Well do you know of any ruins out here?"

"Yes, but only one ruin. What it was nobody can figure out, and nobody really wants to get close enough to find out due to the demonic energy that lingers in the ruins. Why are you all of a sudden interested in Wind Country ruins? I didn't think archeology would be all that interesting to you."

Looking around to make sure the others were still too far ahead to overhear Naruto said, "The fox wants me to get some weapons and information on techniques from a town he destroyed out here. It happened centuries ago according to the fox, but there should still be some ruins left."

"The ruins happen to be near our destination. After the mission is accomplished we'll stop by them and see if what you're looking for is there."

"Thanks Gaara!"

From ahead Sakura shouted, "HEY KAKASHI-SENSEI SAYS WE'RE STOPPING FOR A REST SINCE WE WILL REACH THE DESTINATION TOMORROW!"

After camp was set up Kakashi cleared his throat then said, "I think it is time that I explained the mission Kazekage-sama hired us for. There have been reports of a sandstorm that he suspects Shukaku may be behind. In the case that the bijuu is responsible for the storm our job is to aid Kazekage-sama in subduing and sealing it. If we encounter the bijuu Naruto is to be the only one to fully engage it, Sakura is to avoid the fight and stay back so that she can treat any wounds we suffer, Jiraiya is to seal the bijuu away as soon as possible, and I will be assisting Either Naruto or Jiraiya depending on the situation. Now Jiraiya you will have to speak with Kazekage-sama about what he intends to seal Shukaku into, and everybody should get to sleep as soon as possible."

'Better talk with the fox about this.' Getting into a meditative posture Naruto went to meet with the fox while his teammates stared at him with shock.

Looking at the meditating blonde Sakura could only think, 'If he was telling the truth about meditating then what else might he have told the truth about...' She fell asleep wondering how much of his supposed bragging was actually true.

Kakashi on the other hand was busy using his Sharingan to see if the Naruto before him was an imposter. 'Damn that is really Naruto. Since when did he meditate?' Deciding it was no longer his problem what Naruto did he promptly fell asleep.

* * *

"Hey Kyuubi what the hell am I supposed to do here? If I don't help Gaara seal away Shukaku again then they are probably all gonna die, but if I do than the other bijuu may decide that since I helped seal one of them away they no longer owe me those favors." 

"**You have two choices that will avoid that situation. Choice one is you beat Shukaku to as close to death as a free bijuu can get when not fighting another bijuu. Choice two is you talk with him, see what he is up to, see if you can't get him to not antagonize Sunagakure, and if not call in the favor to make him not antagonize Sunagakure. Either one you choose you'll need to act on it tonight. Choice one you should probably pick up the weapons, and if you go with choice two it would be best to talk with Shukaku without all the others around."**

"Do you have any tips for fighting Shukaku, or finding those weapons?"

**"Not that I haven't already told you. However I suggest making a choice quickly since the one called Gaara probably intends to seal Shukaku back into himself."**

* * *

Dazed at finding himself back in reality so quickly Naruto decides to see if the fox's guess at Gaara's plan is true. Finding him staring off into the distance outside of camp Naruto began his questioning. "Hey Gaara are you going to try sealing Shukaku back into yourself?" Getting no response Naruto decides to take that as a yes and begins trying to talk him out of it. "Gaara doing that would kill you just like taking it out did. There are other ways of dealing with it. It may not even be a threat!" The last one gets as response as Gaara turns to look at him. 

"Just what makes you think an insane and immensely bloodthirsty creature like Shukaku might not be a threat?"

"Well it was sealed away in one thing or another for who knows how long. How do we know that it wasn't it being sealed in something for so long that made it bloodthirsty and insane?"

"What are you and the Kyuubi up to?"

"What makes you think I'm up to something? Especially with the fox!"

"I saw you meditating. That means you were talking with the fox. What plan have the two of you come up with that will prevent me from needing to seal Shukaku back within me?"

"We came up with two plans actually. One is I go get some weapons that hurt the Kyuubi, and use them on Shukaku to beat him to a point where he is no threat to anyone. The other is I go chat with Shukaku and see if I can't set up a deal where Shukaku agrees to leave Sunagakure alone."

"I would like to assist you in whichever plan you decide on."

'**Take him up on his offer servant. He will be helpful no matter which choice you make.'**

'Dammit stop just popping into my thoughts like that Kyuubi.' "Alright Gaara, but I'm not sure which plan would be better."

"I doubt we would be able to strike a deal with Shukaku unless we had the force to make sure the demon abides by it."

"Yeah that makes sense. So lets go get those weapons and then see if we can get Shukaku to talk with us. If not well then we go to Plan B." Seeing Gaara's agreement Naruto continued, "The weapons are in those ruins we discussed earlier. I'm not sure what type of weapons they are or what they might look like if they are of a type we are unfamiliar with, but hopefully the fox will point them out while we're searching. We have a lot of things to do before the others wake up and not all that much time so lets hurry to the ruins."

* * *

"We're here." 

Looking around and seeing nothing but sand in every direction Naruto said, "What do you mean we're here. Here is nowhere. The only thing here is sand and us!" Waving his hand Gaara moved the sand before them to reveal the ruins. "Oh... well then what are we standing around for lets get searching!" Shaking his head at Naruto's antics Gaara silently followed him into the long destroyed village.

After awhile the two could be found standing before a pile of things which the two either recognized as a weapon, thought looked like a weapon, or could not figure out the purpose of such a thing was. "Alright Gaara whatever weapons Kyuubi meant should be in this pile so all we gotta do is have the fox look it over." Seeing Gaara's look Naruto decided to stop explaining and just do it. 'Hey Kyuubi can you tell me what the weapons you told me to get are as I look through this pile?'

'**Yes but it is not necessary to go through the whole pile. The ones I wanted you to get are near the top along with something that might interest Gaara. The five-pointed shuriken with seals on them are one weapon for you, get as many of those as you can find. Another weapon is that pair of nodachi on the very top of the pile. Before you complain I should mention they are a set that compliments each other. While meant to be wielded by two people working together they can be used by just one person just as effectively. Now for Gaara there is that stone staff you came across. I'm not gonna tell you what any of them do, that information should be in the scrolls and books you found along with other information that you can use. Now let me sleep until this mess with Shukaku is over unless you really need my help.'**

Grabbing the staff Naruto tossed it to Gaara, "For you, look through the scrolls and stuff for what it does." He then set the nodachi the fox had mentioned aside before digging through the pile for five-pointed shuriken.

"Naruto Kyuubi does know we can't read these things right?"

"Oh right I forgot about that. Set them down on the ground Ero-sennin thought me a seal that can copy documents and translate them. I didn't really listen about how it works just how to do it and what it did so here goes." Pulling out a scroll with a seal on it Naruto placed the scrolls and books on top of it after placing some of his blood on the seal. Forming some handseals Naruto then channeled chakra into the seal through the documents above it. After a small puff of smoke Naruto tossed the decaying scrolls and books aside to see that the seal scroll was now covered in instructions on weaponry and fighting styles as well as tactics and other information written in what appeared to be Naruto's handwriting. "Cool it worked now lets see what these things do and how to use them."

* * *

Approaching the wall of the sandstorm Naruto and Gaara stopped to decide how to proceed. "Can you clear a path with your abilities Gaara?" Seeing him shake his head no Naruto said, "Well I don't have any techniques that can get us through this either. Maybe he'll stop the storm to find out what is going on if I flare the fox's chakra?" Getting no objection from Gaara Naruto proceeds with his plan. The sandstorm doesn't stop instead it condenses and begins taking the shape of a massive tanuki. Seeing that it had worked Naruto decided to get them up to a level where they would be able to be heard without being right at the demons feet. Biting his thumb then doing some handseals Naruto called out **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

"**What the hell are you doing summoning me to the desert gaki!"**

"I'm trying to get Shukaku to not attack Sunagakure. If we can't negotiate a deal with him to that end than we're gonna to take him out, since you helped me so much last time I fought him I figured you could be just as much help this time."

"**Last time he was sealed inside that redhead. This time he is free and at full power. That is just with ignoring the fact that we are in a desert which is where he is at his strongest and I'm at my weakest."**

"Are you still going to help or not?"

"**Yeah I'll help, but next time you better summon me around water or I'm gonna treat you like I do Jiraiya."**

"If you two are done Shukaku is approaching."

"**Well isn't this a surprise Kyuubi's servant, the toad lord, and my former vessel. Hmm aren't you supposed to be dead?"**

"Yes. However it was only temporary."

"**I thought you were a human. When did death become temporary for human's?"**

"I'm sure you two have so much to tell each other about things from during your separation, but I'm kinda on a schedule here so Gaara if you would get down to business."

Glaring at Naruto slightly before turning back to speak with Shukaku who was also glaring at them Gaara said, "I am not sure how you got away from Akatsuki nor do I care what concerns me is what you may do to those under my protection. Which brings me to why I am here. Why are you here and do you intend to attack Sunagakure or Wind Country?"

"**I'm here because this is my desert you humans are just occupying it. I don't care about the humans under your protection or any other humans for that matter unless they annoying me. As long as you humans don't bother me I won't destroy all of your villages. So unless you want me to destroy that which you try in vain to protect go away!"**

"Shukaku as the Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure it is my duty to defend Wind Country and its inhabitants against those who wish to destroy it. By your own words you have declared yourself to by my enemy. Surrender and never threaten the Wind Country again or prepare yourself for defeat at my hands." Pulling out the stone staff Naruto gave him Gaara took a fighting stance that was more suited to someone using a blade than one wielding a staff.

"**You think you can beat me? You arrogant human! Without** **me you are nothing! It is because of my power you were made Kazekage of your pitiful village. Now I will show you a power that you can never hope to obtain!"** The titanic sand demon lashed out with its claws at Gaara, and Gamabunta prepared to jump out of the way.

Before the toad boss could however, Naruto said, "No Gamabunta let Gaara deal with those claws. However once Gaara gets off I want you to get out of the way of any attacks the two may use against each other. Once Gaara needs help we shall step in, but until then this is his fight."

"**Fine, but I'm not taking responsibility if he dies."**

"My death shall not come at Shukaku's hands, not tonight at least." With that Gaara leaped off of Gamabunta and into the path of Shukaku's attack while raising the staff above his head as if it were a katana being raised for an execution. Swinging at the claws just as they were about to hit, Gaara's staff struck and the claws exploded. Turning the sand into a platform for him to stand on Gaara hovered in the air taking the same stance as before while Shukaku stared at him in shock.

"**What the hell was that! Since when can you fight without using sand?"**

"Since you were removed. That particular attack however was something I just learned tonight. Are you ready to reconsider or must we continue?"

"**Even with some new tricks you still don't have what it takes to kill me!"** Taking a deep breath Shukaku prepared for his **Fuuton : Renkuudan**.

Rushing at the tanuki Gaara said, "That attack won't work on me Shukaku." As he closed the distance at incredible speeds Shukaku raised his hands and Gaara positioned the staff like spear. As the demon's hands swung at his chest Gaara thrust the staff at it's face. Although Gaara was to far away to hit him Shukaku still stumbled backwards as a giant pillar of rock rose from the ground in line with Gaara's staff. The top of the pillar and part of Shukaku's mouth were blown apart from the blast of a **Fuuton : Renkuudan** being launched without Shukaku having his mouth open.

Reforming a mouth the Ichibi no Shukaku began to raise it's arms and along with them a massive amount of sand from the desert. **"Now you're just pissing me off! Die human!" **Tossing his hands and the sand they guided at Gaara Shukaku tried to crush him beneath the sand with a demon scale **Ryuusa Bakuryuu **followed by an equally massive **Sabaku Taisou**.

"Split the land with your might, crush the skies with your power. **Daichi Kyojin** **no Tekken**." The sand crushing Gaara shot towards Shukaku, encircling the bijuu before turning into a hand made of rock that held Shukaku immobile. "Shukaku that is but the first half of my attack surrender under the conditions that you will never again threaten Wind Country or Sunagakure if I release you. If you do not I will finish this attack and finish you as well."

"**Fool you cannot imprison me with rock. I can simply turn it into sand!" **When the bijuu tried to do so however he found that he couldn't make the rock break apart to form sand again. **"What is going on you can't be powerful enough to match me in control over sand!"**

"I am not. However this staff's power is that it allows it's wielder to control minerals to a limited degree. This technique is at the limit of that control and the staff wouldn't normally function on this scale, however combining the inherent abilities of this weapon with the remaining sand manipulation abilities I have from being your vessel allows me to temporarily match your control of sand with this attack. Now I will end this since you seem set on destruction of either yourself or that which I defend." Holding out one hand as if preforming **Sabaku Kyuu** and holding the staff in the air with the other Gaara called out, "Fallen one's revenge, Punishment from the damned, drag them to their fate. **Akunochimata Soushiki**." Gaara embedded the staff into the sand like a grave marker as the stone hand turned into a demonic claw and began sinking into the ground with Shukaku in it's grip. Shukaku trashed and roared trying to get lose, but couldn't even turn his own body into san to escape. The claw managed to drag the demon completely underground before Gaara released the staff and collapsed in exhaustion.

* * *

Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Summoning Technique 

Fuuton : Renkuudan - Wind Element : Drilling Air Projectile

Ryuusa Bakuryuu - Quicksand Waterfall Current

Sabaku Taisou - Desert Imperial Funeral

Daichi Kyojin no Tekken - Earth Giant's Fist

Sabaku Kyuu - Desert Coffin

Akunochimata Soushiki - Underworld Funeral


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or any of the works of Masashi Kishimoto. Actually pretty much anything that ever will occur in this story that you see somewhere else probably is not my property.

Techniques translated at the bottom.

* * *

"**Well it looks like you didn't need me after all gaki."**

"Not quite. I would be amazed if that stopped Shukaku. Probably just pissed him off actually."

"**So you want me to stick around a bit longer huh?"**

"I'd appreciate it. Now lets get Gaara out of the way. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Turning to the single clone he made Naruto said, "Go get Gaara and his staff. Once you've done that take them to the others. I'll make sure Shukaku doesn't follow." As the clone took off Naruto drew both nodachi and tried to guess where Shukaku would rise up from. 'He has gotta be pissed at Gaara, but he can probably tell that Gaara is out cold from that last attack. He might come at me then, but the fact that I have the kyuubi to back me up and that I haven't shown any hostility yet could keep him away. Dammit this is too much thinking.' "Boss can you hit the ground around us and where Gaara was with some water from **Suiton : Teppoudama**?"

"**Yeah gaki, but that will take up most of the water around here."**

"That will be fine just do it."

"**Here we go!"** Forming handseals the toad-boss leaped into the air before releasing his **Suiton : Teppoudama** where Naruto indicated.

In and incredible amount of bad timing on his part Shukaku rose up from where Gaara had been just as the water bullets hit. **"Damn you human! You may be Kyuubi's servant, but for that one I will kill you!"**

"No you won't Shukaku you have fallen into my trap. Now I will show you what these blades can do!" Directing Gamabunta to charge at the slightly soggy sand demon Naruto held the nodachi in his right hand in a position to strike and the one in his left in a guard position.

Shouting out, **"Cutting me all you want it won't hurt me you fool!"** Shukaku reached out to crush Naruto beneath his claws.

Leaping off of Gamabunta as he dismissed him from the battle, Naruto swung the left-handed blade into the claw he was flying at. The blade glowed red-hot as it swung and where it touched the hand Shukaku's sand burst into flames which proceeded to melt the sand into glass. Ignoring Shukaku's cry of surprise Naruto landed on the edge of the newly formed glass and leaped at one of the spots of damp sand in Shukaku's chest. Shukaku however had no intention of finding out what else those blades could do and redirected the sand in his arm so that the partly glass claw was severed and a new one formed in a position to smack Naruto into his other claw. 'Damn I dropped both nodachi when he hit me.' Seeing that he was handing straight into Shukaku's open claw Naruto held out his hands and formed a **Rasengan** in each. Hitting the claw **Rasengan **first Naruto was barely slowed in his flight as they blew apart the sand construct with ease. 'Maybe it's a good thing I lost the swords. Would've been hard to get out of that situation without being crushed if I still had those blades occupying my hands. Well looks like I'm far enough away. Now lets see how well those shuriken work.' Readying some of the five-pointed shuriken in each hand Naruto took aim and threw them with kyuubi enhanced force. Two shuriken hit the damp sand he had jumped towards earlier, they rapidly froze all the water in it making that chunk of Shukaku fall to the ground as a chunk of ice. Three went and embedded themselves into Shukaku's left leg, one burst into flames and turned some of the sand into more glass while the other two caused explosions just a bit larger than most explosive notes. The limb was nearly severed by the attack by it held on. The last shuriken hit Shukaku right in the eye. Unfortunately for the sand demon in was another of the flame ones and his eye was turned almost entirely into glass. 'Well that ought to have pissed him off enough to get his mind off Gaara. Then again if I die from this fall it won't matter much.'

While Naruto was trying to figure out how to cushion his landing Shukaku was crying out for his blood as his own body started to fall apart. Catching sight of Naruto's falling form in his remaining eye Shukaku used the desert sands to recover from all the wounds, but his new glass eye didn't recover. Which was more irritating than handicapping since it was still in a way sand after all. **"I will have your blood Uzumaki!"** Grabbing Naruto with a claw Shukaku crushed him. **"Die Uzumaki. Die like the pathetic human you are, and I will feast on your blood!"**

'Hey Kyuubi I think Shukaku went nuts again. Are you sure beating him around for a bit was such a good idea?'

'**Yes I am now shut up and use some more of my power before he crushes you into Naruto paste.'**

'Ha-ha Kyuubi this really isn't the time for bad puns, but that is a good idea anyway.' Calling up two tails worth of the fox's chakra Naruto blew apart the claw and some of the arm it was attached to with a burst of power. Landing on all fours on the ground once more Naruto looked around for his swords. 'Where'd they get to. These shuriken are good, but not enough to win.' Looking around Naruto noticed the shine from sunlight reflecting off metal and rushed towards it. 'Wait a minute sunlight?' Looking at the horizon while going towards what might be his swords Naruto saw that the sun was already beginning to rise. 'Crap. Well guess I better make this quick before the others show up to carry out Gaara's original mission.' Reaching his goal Naruto could only find one of the nodachi. 'This had better be the right one!' Calling up a third tail of power Naruto rushed at Shukaku with his blade at the ready.

"**You won't get me with the same trick twice Kyuubi!" **Unleashing some slightly underpowered **Fuuton : Renkuudan **in his hurry to kill the source of his rage, Shukaku desperately tried to prevent the Kyuubi-powered ninja from doing whatever it was he planned to do. Charging out of the dust cloud created by the attack however were three kyuubi-powered ninja each with one tail of demonic chakra. **"Dammit I will not let a human beat me. Not even if he does have Kyuubi's power!" **Taking a massive breath of air Shukaku prepared to wipe Naruto out with one last attack. Slamming his hands into his chest while charging the greater portion of his chakra into the blast Shukaku released his largest **Fuuton:Renkuudan **yet into the path of the charging ninja.

It seemed to have been ineffective however as two Naruto's charged out of the crater created by this attack with a third lagging behind. The lead two each began running up Shukaku's legs, dragging their blades behind them and leaving a trail of flames and sand-turned-glass. Near the top of Shukaku's legs the Narutos plunged their blades into the limbs and channeled chakra through the swords. When they withdrew aforementioned swords most of the top of Shukaku's legs was glass. Grinning mischievously the two formed some handseals before calling out, **"Bunshin Bakuha!"** While the two clones self-destructed taking Shukaku's legs with them the third Naruto leapt into the air at Shukaku. As the demon fell Naruto intercepted it's neck. 'I really had hoped I wouldn't need to say this weird chant, but any less than that level of attack and Shukaku might recover too soon.' Holding the sword at his waist Naruto said, "Let your will burn the heavens, let your determination open the gates, **Gouka no Kaze!**" As his nodachi glowed white hot Naruto swung it upwards in a vertical slash, releasing from the sword a burning crescent of air towards Shukaku. When the attack struck it dug deep into Shukaku, but the real damage was when Shukaku combust into incredibly hot flames. When the fires died down Shukaku was lying face down in the sand with most of his body turned to glass. Naruto managed to use **Kawarimi no Jutsu** to switch places with the glass claw dropped earlier to prevent getting crushed beneath the now glass demon. "It worked!"

"What worked?"

"Gah! When the hell did you get here Kakashi?"

Smiling behind his mask Kakashi replied, "In time it see you switch with that chunk of glass that was here."

Coming into sight alongside Sakura, Jiraiya saw the two talking as well as the fallen Shukaku in the distance and shouted, "HEY GAKI YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT SHUKAKU WHILE WE GOT READY TO SEAL IT. NOT TO DEFEAT THE DAMN THING ALL ON YOUR OWN!"

Naruto just gave them a grin while rubbing the back of his head before he asked Kakashi, "How is Gaara doing anyways?"

Kakashi didn't look up from the Icha Icha book he had started reading and said, "He was just exhausted. He'll recover soon enough on his own. You should probably dismiss the clone you have by Gaara."

"Good idea! Now I just have to figure out what to do with my new life-sized glass bijuu."

"Naruto you better not be injured cause I don't want to have to treat you twice!"

"Huh? Sakura-chan what are you talking about you haven't treated me for any injuries yet."

"No, but I'm going to have to treat you after I beat the crap out of you for doing something so stupid!" Rushing at the doomed blonde Sakura hit him with all of her inhuman strength. She then pulled him out from where he was embedded in the glass bijuu and treated his injuries. "Don't do anything that foolish again Naruto, alright?"

"Uh, could we discuss this some other time? Like when we aren't right next to an unconscious demon lord?"

"Good point gaki. Lets seal this baby up and go."

"Uh if you don't mind I'd like to um..." 'Think, think. I need a good excuse so they don't seal him back into Gaara. What might work...' "talk with Kyuubi!"

"Why the hell do you want to talk with the fox about sealing away Shukaku? Better yet why the hell would the fox care?"

"Please just hold off the sealing until I'm done. Its not like the Ichibi is going anywhere."

"Fine just hurry it up. While we're waiting on Naruto I want you two to bring Gaara here."

As Kakashi and Sakura ran off without a word, Naruto sat down and went to chat with his inner demon.

* * *

"Oh great Kyuubi-sama come out come out wherever you are!" Getting no response from the fox Naruto tried something to draw the fox to the front of its cage and in to view. "Hey baka-kitsune get your furry ass out here now! We need to talk!" Listening closely for a sign that the demon was approaching Naruto didn't hear anything at first, but upon closer inspection he heard a sound he recognized. "Are you sleeping?! Wake up you lazy furball! I know you're asleep I can hear you snoring. Now WAKE UP!" 

Growling at the impudent human who woke him up Kyuubi said, **"Who dares to awa... hmm... oh its just you servant. What the hell are you doing in here during my nap? Better question why the hell did you interrupt my nap? It better be a good reason because I was in the middle of a very good dream."**

"My team showed up right after I knocked out Shukaku. They still intend to go with Gaara's original plan because he hasn't woken due to his exhaustion yet."

"**Hmm sounds like its all your problem this time, but since you kicked Shukaku's ass so badly I'm willing to help you out a little. The ichibi is currently out cold due to exhaustion. Your fight with him ****made him** **use up most of his power and fixing your final blow will take more than he has left, but Shukaku isn't all that patient so he'll keep trying to heal himself with all of his energy even when there is none available which means it will take a couple weeks for him to be ready to fight again. Now while weakened Shukaku could be sealed away without harm into someone who is properly prepared to contain him even if they have fully developed chakra coils. Gaara is such a human. In other words you interrupted my nap for no good reason since Gaara can handle having a battered and beaten Shukaku being put back into him. Now get out of here, I intend to sleep for a week. If you need me that's too bad because between my mark and the goodies you picked up nothing should be a sufficient threat to you that you need me to wake up. **

* * *

"It couldn't have just said that in the beginning? Damn fox wasting my time because I interrupted its nap." Standing up and looking around Naruto found Jiraiya putting seals on Gaara. "Hey Ero-sennin I thought I said to wait until I woke up!" 

"Did you find out anything useful from the fox?"

"Yeah, because I beat up the tanuki so badly it can be sealed back into Gaara without risking Gaara's life."

"Is that all?"

"Also the fox said that it would take awhile before the tanuki could fight again."

"So I have plenty of time to do the sealing and there was absolutely no reason for your complaints about me starting to soon."

"Well yeah that's about it." Jiraiya just shook his head at Naruto's behavior and went back to work.

* * *

"So basically Naruto and Gaara subdued the bijuu, you sealed it properly, the group returned to Suna, and Gaara hadn't awakened yet by the time you left? Is that basically what happened on the mission?" 

"Pretty much yeah."

"What was Sakura's report on the Kazekage's condition?"

"It should take a couple days for his body to get used to having Shukaku sealed in him again, but once that is done he should wake up fine as long as I didn't screw up the sealing."

"And what of Naruto's condition? No one has turned in a report on injuries he incurred while fighting Shukaku."

"That would be because he didn't really get injured fighting Shukaku, and if he did the injuries were already healed by the fox before Sakura could see them."

"Well I guess there is only one thing I can do with this information. Jiraiya go find everyone who was on the mission and tell them they have a week long vacation beginning today."

"Can't you send one of those chuunin at the door to tell them?"

"Stop whining and do it Jiraiya, then you can go begin your own vacation." 'Maybe this way they'll stay out of trouble and I can concentrate on our relations with the other ninja villages instead of situations involving missing-nin and demons.'

* * *

'Wow! That looks pretty complicated. What the hell is that a drawing of? Hm half this I can't tell what is going on and I have no idea how to do the other half. I'm going to need help with this. Who do I know that wouldn't mind helping me try to learn an ancient taijutsu style that no living human knows how to preform from some ridiculously complicated training manuals? Bushy-brows! But he could still be out on that mission. Oh well I'll check the training grounds anyway, if he isn't there I can at least try some of this stuff out on my own.' 

"Ah-ha I finally found you Naruto!"

"Ero-sennin I'm in my own apartment. It shouldn't have been all that hard to find me."

"Whatever anyway I'm here to tell you that everyone on that last mission is being given a week long vacation starting today."

"Only a week huh? Must be a lot of missions lined up or something for her to only try getting us out of her hair for one week."

"Heh probably. Anyway enjoy the break, I know I will."

"Just go do your research and leave me in peace. I'm trying to figure out how to do the stuff listed on this scroll." Grinning lecherously Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sighing Naruto rolled up the scroll before leaving his apartment through the window, having walled up the door long ago to make his apartment inaccessible to non-ninja. Rushing through the training grounds Naruto listened intently for the sounds that meant Rock Lee was back from a mission.

"Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-five, Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-six, Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-seven..."

'Ahh that would be Bushy-brows over there.' Sneaking up behind Lee who was preoccupied with turning a training log into a toothpick Naruto said, "You know Bushy-brow I'm fairly certain the training log is very sorry for whatever it did to you, and wishes for you to stop while it is still recognizable as a training log."

Stopping mid-kick Lee whirled about and declared, "YOSH! My youthful friend has returned from the clutches of the most unyouthful Akatsuki! Tell me my youthful friend how your burning flames of youth managed to prevail over your foes!"

'I thought asking him to help me with this strange taijutsu was a good idea why?' Chuckling nervously Naruto said, "I uh blew them away by, um combining my youthful flames with the powers of the demon fox." 'I hope he doesn't ask for more information.' Seeing flames growing in Lee's eyes Naruto decided to cut off the flames of youth rant he sensed coming before Gai showed up and the two started hugging. "Look Bushy-brow on a recent mission to Suna I picked up an interesting scroll with among other things details some sort of taijutsu. I came looking for you to ask your help in training in the taijutsu listed on the scroll."

"Naruto your youthful flames are burning as strongly as ever. You are surely in your Springtime of Youth! Of course I will help you in learning the youthful ways of taijutsu! Now let us see what this scroll has to say about the most youthful art!"

Handing over the scroll Naruto thought, 'He is becoming more like Gai each time I see him. He may actually be out doing Gai with his youth speeches now. I know I'm going to regret this soon enough.' Breaking from his thoughts Naruto noticed that Lee was speaking about youth louder and louder as he read the scroll. 'Why did I have to ask Bushy-brow for help?!' As he and Lee began training as the scroll directed, according to Lee's interpretation, Naruto could've sworn he heard muffled laughter mixed in with the Kyuubi's snoring in his head.

* * *

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Suiton : Teppoudama - Water Element : Bullet

Rasengan - Spiral Sphere

Fuuton : Renkuudan - Wind Element : Drilling Air Projectile

Bunshin Bakuha - Shadow Clone Explosion

Gouka no Kaze - Hellfire Wind

Kawarimi no Jutsu - Replacement Technique


	5. Chapter 5

This is a disclaimer. I do not own Naruto. I own nothing from Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Techniques are translated at the bottom of the chapter.

* * *

The sound of flesh meeting flesh, explosions, and wood breaking were not unusual sounds coming from any of Konoha's training grounds, but they did not usually last for several hours nonstop. It was this that had led to so many off duty ninja gathering around the training grounds and placing bets.

"Who was training here?"

"How long have they been at it?"

"I'm betting they'll be finishing up in one hour tops."

"No way they can go that much longer 20 minutes more maybe."

"You're underestimating them. It's a Sannin's apprentice and Gai's apprentice out there. I give them two more hours at least."

"Is that Hokage-sama over there betting on the fight?"

"No way would she involve herself in this."

"You don't know much about shishou do you? She's a notorious gambler."

"Yeah notoriously bad. I feel sorry for whoever she bets on."

"Why is that sempai?"

"She only wins under two conditions. One something bad is gonna happen, or two someone else's good luck is enough to overwhelm her bad."

"Look they're slowing down!"

"No they aren't they're just taking it up a notch."

In the now battle-scared clearing the two blurs came to a stop some distance apart from each other. One turned out to be a slightly winded Rock Lee with nothing more than some tears in his outfit. Removing the weights beneath the orange bands he wears Lee says, "Truly you are an excellent example of someone in the Springtime of their Youth Naruto! In one week you have learned enough of a forgotten taijutsu style to force me to drop my weights, but can you push me into opening the gates?"

The other figure was a bruised, but barely winded Naruto Uzumaki wearing a badly ripped orange jumpsuit. Looking at his opponent and the craters left by his weights Naruto could only say, "Probably not without using any of my kenjutsu, or ninjutsu. Don't think I'm not going to try and win this though!" On the heels of that declaration Naruto charged at Lee with a speed few of the observers could see.

Blocking the incoming kick with his arms Lee countered with a kick of his own which knocked Naruto back a few feet. "Ah you are finally using chakra to enhance your speed I see. The burning flames of your youth are commendable Naruto, but I am afraid that through my hard work I am far beyond what your flames of youth can achieve even with your chakra enhanced abilities!" Disappearing from sight Lee appeared in a blur behind Naruto and left all of the spectators gasping in awe at his pure physical speed. With a cry of, **"Konoha Dai Senpuu!"** Lee attempted to hit the blonde with a series of spinning kicks.

Leaping straight up before Lee could even finish calling out the attack Naruto dodged all the kicks. Seeing Lee jumping up after him Naruto prepared for whatever Lee tried to use. When Lee began to unwrap his bandages Naruto was confused and decided not to try finding out what Lee was going to do. "I don't know what you intend to do bushy-brows, but I know that you unwrapping those always leads to nothing but injuries for everyone involved." Naruto then used chakra to move towards Lee headfirst. Almost as if he were jumping off the air. Before impact Naruto spun around and kicked the stunned Lee with both feet firmly in the stomach. Seeing Lee crash into the ground with considerable force Naruto landed then got into a defensive stance some distance from where Lee hit.

As the dust cleared Lee could be seen in his Gouken stance with what appeared to be flames burning in his eyes. "Yosh! Naruto your flames of youth burn brightly indeed to have mastered the more advanced techniques of the scroll in such a short time!"

"Actually I just held back the techniques I hadn't mastered yet in our previous spars. This time I'm using everything I know even if I haven't mastered it."

"Still you managed to use them most skillfully. You may yet make me unleash all of the might of my most passionate flames of youth to defeat you in this spar!"

"Can we just get back to fighting I think some of our audience is falling asleep."

Lee looked at the gathered shinobi and noticed that sure enough there were a few catching up on missed sleep. "Excellent idea Naruto let us demonstrate to these hip shinobi what the springtime of youth is like!"

Sighing at his sparring partner's speech Naruto decided to just attack before he fell asleep as well. Rushing at the distracted Lee he used as much speed as he could muster to close the distance between them and to get behind Lee. From behind Naruto tried to strike Lee in the neck, but Lee blocked the attack with his forearm before grabbing Naruto a tossing him at a tree. Reorienting himself so he hit the tree feet first Naruto softened his impact with chakra before pushing off of the tree with such force it nearly split in two. Naruto's spinning kick at Lee's head was blocked with Lee's own leg then countered by Lee's punch to Naruto's face. Crashing into the ground Naruto used his momentum to roll away before springing up to his feet and getting into a defensive stance.

Lee looked at his foe and tried to find an opening in the stance. Seeing only one that Naruto had surely left to bait him into attacking he decided to see if he couldn't get Naruto off guard. Lee rushed at Naruto and began to circle him just out of striking distance and at a high speed. When Naruto closed his eyes and relaxed his stance slightly Lee struck. His first strike, a kick, was blocked by Naruto's arm. Circling somemore before the second, a punch, was knocked aside by Naruto's hand. Rapidly getting to Naruto's other side Lee let lose the third, another punch, which was blocked by Naruto kicking out at him. The fourth strike was a kick from directly in front of Naruto which he caught. Naruto used his grip on Lee's leg to keep him from evading a punch, but Lee grabbed Naruto's fist and stopped it inches from his face. Naruto tried to kick Lee in the stomach, but Lee knocked the blow aside with his free hand before twisting out of Naruto's hold and jumping away.

"Are you ready to use the gates yet Lee?"

Seeing the grin on his blonde friend's face Lee replied, "I have not been pushed that far just yet Naruto. After all you've only landed one significant blow since we started. My flames of youth have yet to diminish while yours have faded somewhat during our fight."

Naruto's smile just grew as he said, "I'll just have to correct that oversight won't I bushy-brow?"

Smiling in return Lee just settled into his stance and said, "Very well let's see if you have anything left Naruto, or if your flames of your have been burned out completely from our match."

Naruto simply stood there arms at his sides before closing his eyes and saying, "Anybody who doesn't want to get hit by this next one should back away from the clearing because this is going to be big." As the observers backed away Naruto's chakra flared up and began to become visible due to the amount he was putting out. Opening his eyes Naruto's smile became a smirk and he said, "Time to end this." Launching himself at Lee with enough force to leave a crater in the ground Naruto seemed to disappear from even Lee's sight. Appearing right in front of Lee he stood on his hands with his legs coiled like a spring. Kicking upwards at Lee's face Naruto launched him upwards with incredible force. Leaping up after him Naruto used his modified **Kage Buyou **to follow Lee into the air. "Sorry about this bushy-brow, but you wanted me to go all out this fight. Now here I go." Kicking Lee higher into the air Naruto then used his chakra to launch off the air and get above Lee. Just as Lee began to recover from the blow Naruto began to spin in the air before he sent Lee crashing down with a kick to the chest. Naruto however was too exhausted from the attack to do anything to prevent himself from crashing down almost as hard as Lee would.

In the audience a pink haired kunoichi only said, "Suicidal idiots." Before rushing out to catch the two falling ninjas. Barely catching both of them in time she then dropped them to the ground as the shinobi that didn't know the two left.

As the eight remaining ninja gathered around the pink haired kunoichi Lee said, " Hello Sakura-chan and thank you for catching me before I hit the ground. That technique seems to be just as powerful as my own **Omote Renge**."

"It was nothing personnel I just didn't want to have to put the two of you back together after that fall." Was Sakura's light-hearted reply.

"Yeah right Sakura. You just wanted to feel up your boyfriend while he couldn't resist."

"Ino-pig! You're just jealous that I have a boyfriend that actually does anything."

"Yeah right forehead. Besides he does to do things."

"Like what?"

Blushing Ino just muttered under her breath something that nobody could hear.

Stepping forward Jiraiya said, "As much as I love catfights. Particularly between such lovely ladies such as yourselves. I have to interrupt."

Having recovered enough to walk Naruto stumbled over to the group near Lee who was already being treated for his injuries. "Oh yeah Ero-sennin and just what important information do you have for us that Baa-chan there doesn't?"

After knocking Naruto to the ground Tsunade said, "All he was going to tell you is to report to my office for your next mission as soon as possible. Since you are all here however I can just tell you about it now. As you know we have had a team doing border patrol along the Grass Country border and that the team failed to report back when their month long mission was over. What you don't know is that the team I sent to investigate the disappearance has concluded that the border team was taken out by Iwa-nin and it was not the work of missing-nin as we had suspected. This information can only mean one of two things. One is that Iwagakure is going to attack and has the support of Kusa, and the other is that someone is trying to provoke us into a war with Iwagakure. Both situations will likely end up with Konoha becoming involved in another war. Our enemies are either Iwa or whoever is trying to provoke us. I am sending all of you to find out whether it really was Iwa-nin or if someone is trying to get us to attack Iwa. If it is indeed the latter case I want you to find out who. You will be joined at the border by some more Konoha-nins. Some of them you will know some you will not. I trust that you will be able to tell if they are really your reinforcements or not without having me make up some stupid password or something. You are to leave on this S-class mission tomorrow. In order to make sure you are all in top shape I will be treating any wounds you have now, and you are to take it easy until you leave on the mission. Is all this understood?"

In unison all the ninja with the exception of Tsunade and Jiraiya said, "Yes Tsunade-sama!" This resulted in Tsunade checking Naruto for head injuries since he actually addressed her with respect.

* * *

Naruto lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling while thinking, 'Holding back my chakra so that I can do techniques that normally would require opening the gates might not be the good idea it seemed when I started this. Then again releasing suppressed chakra that should be accessible to me normally doesn't cause the damage to my body opening the gates would. Whatever in a real fight I would call on the fox's chakra to do the techniques anyway so it should be less tiring than it was when I fought Lee.'

'**Servant! I need to speak with you face to face.'**

'Alright I'll see you in a minute Kyuubi.' Naruto settled into his meditative pose and went to talk with the voice in his head. "What do you want this time Kyuubi."

"**There isn't anything I particularly want right now aside from you getting laid or something so you might become less annoying. What I called you here for is the fact that I have some information for you about what kind of demon you might transform into."**

"How would getting laid make me less annoying? Actually never mind that question I don't really want to know the thought process behind that. Now what was that about knowing what kind of demon I'm turning into?"

"**While you haven't become demonic enough for me to tell you if you'll become an animal demon, an elemental demon, a humanoid demon, or even whether you will be a high or low level demon**. **I can however find signs of what the elemental aspect will be of whatever you become."**

"Elemental aspect?"

"**Yes elemental aspect. That is what determines what a demons unique attacks will be like. I for example have an elemental aspect of both earth and water. That is why I can cause earthquakes and tsunamis with my tails. You will likely have multiple elemental aspects as well. One will be you primary and will have some effect on your appearance as well as dictate what kind of demonic jutsu you can preform. The other will be your secondary aspect and it will do one of two things. It will either complement your primary or it will be negated by your primary. If its negated you probably will never even notice you have it as it will have no affect on you. If it complements your primary however it will also have a slight effect on your appearance, but the real bonus to having a complementary second nature is that it allows you to use more demonic jutsu and to enhance the ones you can use due to your primary nature. Got all that?"**

"Uh kind of, but it just sounds like chakra nature to me as long as your discount the appearance effecting parts."

"**Well I suppose they do have some things in common. A demon's elemental aspect however is far more limiting than chakra natures are. For example a ninja with wind chakra nature such as yourself can still use suiton, doton,** **katon, and raiton ninjutsu just not as efficiently as** **fuuton** **ninjutsu. A demon that has a wind elemental aspect however can only use fuuton demon jutsu. They are completely incapable of preforming any demon jutsu that are for any other element. The exception to this is if the have water or fire for a secondary elemental aspect. In that case they can use katon or suiton demon jutsu also, but not quite as powerful ones as a demon with that as their primary. As a bonus certain combinations of primary and secondary elemental aspects allow the use of jutsu not accessible to those who have just one or the other element. Wind and water are a good example. Someone with this combination can use hyouton jutsu as well as fuuton and suiton** **jutsu. Now do you get it servant?"**

"I think so, but what does this have to do with me again?"

Growling in frustration the kyuubi says, **"I know what elemental aspect is going to be your primary if things keep going the way they are."**

"Oh! Well what is it then?"

"**Currently it is fire with wind being what you will have secondary if you get a secondary aspect. I can even tell you why it is going to be fire and how you can change that." **Seeing Naruto looking up with puppy eyes Kyuubi continues, **"You will have fire because you have spent so much time training with Shounetsujigoku. The wind comes from the fact that your chakra nature is wind. Thinking on this mess for a bit I have come to a decision. I order you to not use Shounetsujigoku until you are sufficiently transformed into a demon that your elemental aspect cannot be changed. Instead I want you to train with Hie. Besides it is a lot easier to say Hie and whatever blade you start to favor now you a going to be stuck with once you become a demon.**"

"Why should I use Hie and why won't I be able to use both after becoming a demon?"

"**The two blades have almost completely opposite elemental abilities. So when you become a demon you will no longer be able to properly mold energy to wield one of them. I want you to use Hie because it will make you have ice or water as a primary aspect with wind as a secondary. Knowing you it will likely be ice since that will take more training and use than merely water. Being ice and wind for your aspects will be a good advantage as a demon since demonic ice jutsu tend to be rather powerful due to them being formed by combining two natures. With it for a primary nature you can use more powerful ice jutsu than just about any other demon and having wind for a secondary will make others think water is your primary. After seeing how powerful your ice jutsu are they will think your ability to use water jutsu is at my level instead of the nearly nonexistent level you will have. This should allow you to bluff your way out of most fights beyond your level for awhile."**

"Okay that sounds like a good idea, but if I can't use Shounetsujigoku anymore shouldn't I give it to someone who can?"

"**Do whatever you want with it as long as you don't use it and you start training with Hie. Now leave I've had enough of talking with you."**

Opening his eyes to reality Naruto thought, 'Damn all that training to master Shounetsujigoku is useless now. Since he made it an order I can't even use the sword if I need to. Guess I'll have to work on mastering Hie while on this mission. Maybe Tenten would like a new sword.' Looking at his clock Naruto noticed it was pretty late and decided to get to sleep so he wouldn't be late for the mission.

* * *

Konoha Dai Senpuu - Leaf Great Whirlwind

Kage Buyou - Shadow Dance

Omote Renge - Front Lotus


	6. Chapter 6

This is my disclaimer. I do not own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Techniques are translated at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"We are only a few hours travel from the border. We are going to stop here and wait for the rest of our team to show up." The gathered ninja nodded at Jiraiya's declaration.

Deciding that this was as good a time as any to ask him Sakura turned to Naruto and spoke in a low voice, "Hey Naruto why were you avoiding everyone during our week off?"

"I wasn't avoiding you Sakura-chan."

"I know. You just avoided everyone except Lee and I."

"Ano... well that's because... I was busy training. Yeah that's it I was training."

"Yeah right Naruto. The only reason you saw me was because you needed someone to treat your injuries from training with Lee. You've been avoiding everyone and I want to know why."

"I just spent all my time training okay? You know how I can get when I'm trying to learn new jutsu."

"Yeah I guess..."

"Looks like the others are here. Lets see who it is."

"Ah-ha there you are Kakashi. Maito Gai and his youthful associates have arrived to aid you with your mission. So let us begin exercising our springtime of youth and find out who committed the most unyouthful deed of eliminating the border patrol team."

"Hmm... oh hello Gai. Did you say something?"

"Curse you and your hip attitude Kakashi." Lee then walked over to console his sensei.

"Oh Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai..."

Throwing a kunai at the pair Jiraiya said, "Shut up we need to stay undetected and we aren't far from the border." Seeing the two bowing while muttering apologies Jiraiya went on to say, "Now that we are all here I'm going to split you up into groups and assign a task to each of you. I will lead one group, Kakashi another, and Gai will lead the third group. My group will consist of Uzumaki, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, and Hyuuga. Kakashi's team will be Haruno, Tenten, Akimichi, and Yamato. Gai's team will be Yuuhi, Lee, Uzuki, and Nara. Kakashi's team is to search for signs that Kusa is allied with Iwa, they will likely have to infiltrate Kusagakure itself to do this so be careful. Gai's team is to provide support for Kakashi's team incase they are discovered and need to fight their way out. My own team will be trying to follow the trail left by the enemy to see where they really came from, and if it is proven to be Iwa to look for signs that they will be going to war. Now we only have a limited time for this mission so we are going to be meeting up here in two months. If there are any changes in the mission plan I will notify you via summons. Any information of immediate importance to the mission is to be relayed to me through your own summons. Now lets go." With that the forest was empty was more and the only sign of anyone having been there was a rustling in the leaves.

* * *

Kakashi's team took off in a straight line for Kusagakure. "Alright on this mission we will have to sneak around without using genjutsu to hide our identities so first of all everyone is going to turn their forehead protectors over to me for safe keeping." Collecting the forehead protectors Kakashi replaced his own with some bandages to hide his eye. "Now Tenten and Yamato are the least likely to be recognized so they will be going around and asking people questions that might result in the answers we want. Sakura, Chouji, and I will be staying out of sight and trying to find any information by searching records and documentation. We should all avoid attracting attention to what we are looking for and the fact that we are foreign nin. We are going to split up before we reach our destination so we attract less attention, and so that if one group is found out the other might not be. Does anyone have any questions regarding the plan? 

"Kakashi-sensei wouldn't it be more efficient to capture a high ranking kusa nin or some sort of official who would have such information and interrogate them for the information we are after?"

"No it wouldn't Sakura. If we were to capture and interrogate someone we first of all have little guarantee that the information we obtain is accurate since we have no torture and interrogation specialists on the team. While Yamato's ANBU experience as well as my own does qualify us to preform torture and interrogation when necessary, just as your own medical training does, information obtain via these means would need to be verified through other means before it could be acted upon. Besides that we don't know if Kusa is actually an enemy yet, and if they aren't such actions would be likely to push them into becoming our enemies. Now do you understand why we are going with this plan in our situation?"

"Yeah."

"Good now we'll split up for the duration of the mission unless circumstances force us to regroup."

* * *

Gai's team took off on a path that paralleled Kakashi's and maintained a sufficient distance to observe them and rush to their aid if necessary, but not so close that Kakashi's team or anyone observing them would notice. Gai's team also traveled under a genjutsu to further aid in preventing their detection. "Alright team it is not our duty to keep a watch over Kakashi's team itself, but to simply make sure that if they are discovered they have a way out. This will most likely lead to one of three situations if they are indeed detected. The best possibility in these circumstances is that they are already on their way out when detected. In this situation Kakashi's team will need us to buy time for them to lose any trackers Kusa will send after them. We would achieve this by engaging the pursuing Kusa nin in combat under conditions where we can retreat at any time without the Kusa nin following, but the Kusa nin cannot get away from us unless we let them. The worst possibility is that Kakashi's team is detected and neither Kakashi's team nor us manages to find this out in time to prevent Kakashi's team from being captured and taken away to be interrogated. In this scenario it will be our job to break Kakashi's team out before they can reveal anything, and escape in the aftermath. The last possibility is similar to the worst case scenario, but someone finds out before hand and Kakashi's team is able to escape the trap set for them. However even after escaping the trap my rival will still be surrounded by a village full of enemy ninja in this situation. Which means we will have to create a distraction that Kakashi can take advantage of to get out of Kusa. Since for all these situations will we need to be in top condition if we expect to succeed and get out alive ourselves I am having only one person watching Kusa and Kakashi's team at any time. This may change depending on our circumstances, but for now that will be our mission. I will have us on a rotating watch of the village and whenever possible Kakashi's team that lasts eight hours a person. Of those not on watch two are expected to be resting while the other two think up plans for how to carry out our mission if we are needed. Now does anyone question this most youthful plan?" 

"It's troublesome... but I can't find anything wrong with it based on the information we have."

"If Shikamaru can't find fault with it then it is fine with me."

"I shall agree with Nara-san and Yuuhi-san for now."

"That is truly a most youthful plan Gai-sensei! It is an excellent example of your springtime of youth!"

"Of course it is. My fires of youth are undeniable! Now lets begin carrying it out and watch my hip rival until he and his team enter the village."

* * *

Jiraiya's team took a more northerly course that would get them across Kusa and into Earth Country as fast as possible. "Alright this path seems to be left by either very bad ninjas or ninjas that were not concerned about stealth. It seems to lead straight to Iwa, but we cannot be certain of that so make sure to be on the lookout for and diverging paths or signs that this is a false trail. If it leads into Earth Country without signs of being false or of diverting we will follow it until we are a day away from Iwagakure. We would then be responsible for scouting around Earth Country and looking for signs that they are going to war. If we are unable to find such signs we are to infiltrate Iwagakure and look for signs there. If we can't find the signs there... well I'm not sure what to do then I guess at that point it is make it up as we go time. Anyway if we do find out this is a false trail we are to split up. The splitting will be decided when and if it is necessary. One of the split groups will follow this trail in case it is not actually false, and the other will return to our starting point on this hunt to look for other less obvious routes the perpetrators may have taken. If the path diverges we will follow the divergence and see where it leads. If it leads to a dead end and was just meant to throw us off we will return to the original trail and follow that. If it leads somewhere we are to investigate wherever it has led us to while attracting as little attention as possible. That means we only engage in combat when absolutely necessary. I think that covers everything." Getting lost in thought for a moment Jiraiya trails off in his explanation. Being brought back to the present by Naruto's complaining about his explanation Jiraiya says, "Shut up already. Now I'm sure you are all wondering what we do if we actually find proof that Iwa is preparing for war with Konoha. Well that is an easy one, we run like hell back to the meeting point after sending a message to Tsunade via toad-summon. If Kakashi's team finds anything out to verify that it is true we will send another message to Tsunade before we head back to report it to her in person. Now if at any point anyone is captured by the enemy we are to rescue them as soon as possible and hope that their captors were unable to tell anyone that they encountered us. Since our group has so many people that can be recognized as from Konoha with just a slight glance we are to proceed with the utmost stealth at all times. That means no talking, training, or evening snoring for the duration of the mission. If we are successful Kusa and Iwa should have no idea that we were even here." At this point Jiraiya had his team pick up their pace while looking for any signs of deception.

* * *

"Well this sucks." 

"Shut up gaki. Its your fault we're in this mess."

"We are in the middle of Iwagakure facing off against the Tsuchikage, two squads of Iwa ANBU, the last two loyal members of Kiri's famed Seven Swordsman, and the Mizukage. How is this my fault?"

"You sneezed while we were trying to listen in on the Mizukage's and the Tsuchikage's conversation."

"Fine whatever. Do you have any ideas on how to get out of this?"

"Well we could hope that the others are on their way to us in one big group even though they should be well on their way to Konoha by now."

"So we're screwed."

"Yeah that pretty much sums up our situation Gaki."

"Could you two please stop bickering and allow us to ask you a few questions before we kill you?"

"Sure. Why are you going to just kill us though? Wouldn't it be more productive to interrogate us?"

"Normally that would be the case Jiraiya-san, but here in Iwagakure there are orders for you to be executed on sight by any kage-level ninja that encounters you, or an equivalently strong group of ninja."

"Okay I suppose that explains me Tsuchikage-san, but what about him?"

"Well I know he is supposedly dead, but that man bears a striking resemblance to the Konoha no Kiiroi Senko. This leads me to conclude that Konoha faked their Fourth Hokage's death and that he is standing here before me. As you should well know Iwa has a standing order that all shinobi are to retreat at the appearance of the Kiiroi Senko, but I believe that with four kage level ninja present and two ANBU squads for support we can afford to engage him and rid ourselves of that threat to our forces."

"Hold on you intend to kill the gaki here because he looks like someone who has been dead for twenty-one years?"

"Yes. I simply cannot take the chance that he is not in fact the Kiiroi Senko. Besides the only way anyone could look that much like someone is if they were related. Which means even if he is not who we believe him to be he is still related to that man, and thus we will kill him."

"Well Naruto looks like we are going to have to take out four kage level ninja and two squads of ANBU. Are you ready for a little warm-up before training?"

"Sure. I call the kiri-nin."

"Fine I'll deal with the rockheaded fools."

"Tsuchikage-san they seem to believe they stand a chance. Maybe we should disabuse them of the notion?"

"Definitely. ANBU! Kill them."

"Mizukage-sama shall we assist the Iwa-ANBU?"

"Yes, and I'll join in the fight myself. Won't you Tsuchikage-san?"

"Of course. Why would I miss a chance to get rid of two of my most hated foes?"

Jiraiya rapidly went through handseals before slamming his hands down and calling out, "**Doton : Yomi Numa!"** This resulted in the ANBU sinking into a large swamp that form beneath their feet. 'That'll hold them for a little while. Now for the Tsuchikage.'

"**Doton : Doryuu Taiga!" **Was all the warning Jiraiya had before being swept away by a river of mud.

"Looks like its just the four of us. Well three on one seems a bit unfair to me so how about we even the odds? **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** Forming a single seal Naruto creates a pair of clones.

Looking at the clones in disdain one of the swordsman preformed a jutsu and said, "Your clones are useless if they can't see their target. **Kirigakure no Jutsu."**

Naruto just drew his nodachi as the clouds of mist rolled in to hide his opponents from his sight. "You know it is rather difficult to have a kenjutsu duel when nobody can see the opponents. Of course this doesn't really apply to anyone here. After all you three are used to it, and I... well I don't need my eyes to fight." Naruto was silenced when a jian impaled him in the heart. "Ow that kinda hurts you know, but this will hurt more." Grinning maniacally and forming a seal the impaled Naruto called out, **"Bunshin Bakuha."** The blast sent the Kiri-swordsman flying back into the obscuring fog, but Naruto could tell that he had gotten off with only minor injuries. "Hm you know I think I will get rid of this mist after all. It is beginning to annoy me that I can't see you."

"Too bad for you blondie. Now let's see how you fair against my blade!" Appearing from the mist right in front of Naruto was the second swordsman. This one wielded a tanto in each hand. Before Naruto could attack him he split into five identical men. The five swordsman surrounded Naruto before jumping in the strike.

Not knowing which was real Naruto used **Hari Jizou** to block all of the blades. "It doesn't matter how many of you there are or even if I can't tell which is real. If you can't hit me your deceptions are useless in this fight. However I am impressed by the speed with which your blade created those clones. You must be quite skilled with it, but from what I've seen you aren't even as good as Zabuza was." When the clones jumped back Naruto released the jutsu and held his blade with one-hand while forming a **Rasengan** in the other. "Now if you don't have anything better just die." Charging at the swordsman in front of him Naruto decapitated one and hit the other in the chest with his **Rasengan**. Leaping forward to the edge of the mist cloud Naruto Rapidly preformed seals as the Swordsman and his clones charged. **"Fuuton : Daitoppa!"** The ensuing gust of wind blew away the mist and destroyed the remaining two clones while wounding the original.

"It would seem that you may indeed be the Kiiroi Senko. After all what other blonde haired and blue eyed shinobi of the leaf knows **Rasengan**?" Looking over the wounded swordsman the Mizukage said, "Get up. This time we will go at him together. Beware of any kunai he throws. The Kiiroi Senko always threw some strange kunai at his foes before he used **Hiraishin no Jutsu**." Forming some seals the Mizukage called out, **"Suiton : Baku Suishouha!"** This was followed by a massive amount of water being expelled from the Mizukage's mouth.

Forming a string of handseals before the Mizukage had even started on his the jian wielding swordsman finished just after his kage and called out, **"Suiton : Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"** This caused a portion of the newly formed water to rise up into a dragon shape and launch itself at Naruto.

Naruto deftly dodged to the side of the dragon and stabbed it as it passed. However before the dragon could continue on Naruto Swung his sword around, with the dragon somehow still attached, and reoriented the dragon at the Kiri-nin. As Naruto removed his blade from the dragon it turned into ice. "Your water techniques will be insufficient to defeat me at this point."

"Well sending them back at us won't work either!" Finishing his own handseals and redrawing his tanto the second swordsman called out, **"Daibakufu no Jutsu!"** The resulting blast of water shattered the frozen water dragon and continued on to slam into Naruto. The current of the water was so fierce that it dragged him along out of sight from the kiri-nins.

* * *

Climbing out of the mud river using his chakra Jiraiya complains, "Mud. A whole river of mud. Damn Iwa nin and their doton jutsu. It will take forever to wash all this mud off. No woman would be with a muddy guy. My peeping jutsu don't work if I'm all muddy either. Damn this means I'm actually going to need to go to a bathhouse for a reason other than research." 

"**Doton : Doryuudan!"**

"Wha?" Getting hit by several rocks Jiraiya is knocked back into the mud. "Dammit! Why the hell do you have such an obsession with mud?!" Climbing out once more Jiraiya finds himself surrounded by the Iwa-ANBU and the Tsuchikage. "Well this is convenient for me." Forming handseals Jiraiya cast the genjutsu **Kokuangyou no Jutsu**. He took advantage of the ensuing blindness of his foes to get out of their encirclement, and leaped atop a nearby building. From there he threw several shuriken at the ANBU and kage below. Before they could reach his target he used the **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** to increase the number of thrown shuriken drastically. Some of the ANBU and the Tsuchikage managed to break free from the genjutsu in time to dodge the shuriken, but the rest were not so lucky and fell to the barrage. Unfortunately several of the ANBU who survived the shuriken were pulled into the ground and killed by clones of Jiraiya using **Doton : Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu**. "Well that makes things a bit more even between us."

Looking at the three living ANBU the Tsuchikage said, "Leave us. Go make sure the kiri-nins take out the Kiiroi Senko. I will deal with the gama-sennin on my own." As the ANBU left to carry out his orders the Tsuchikage began to preform a long string of handseals. "This jutsu will be the end of you Jiraiya! It is the ultimate doton jutsu!"

Before the Tsuchikage could complete his handseals a Jiraiya used **Shunshin no Jutsu **to appear behind him as all the others burst into smoke. "It is a pity that you will not live long enough to use that jutsu. **Rasengan!**" Hitting the Tsuchikage with the ball of chakra Jiraiya killed Iwa's leader. 'I expected a bit more from the Tsuchikage. Guess all his skills deteriorated with age and not just his physical abilities. Oh well, time to see if Naruto has gotten himself killed yet.' "Gah! Ow-wow-wow. Okay maybe I just rest here for a minute, that Doryuudan did more than I thought."

* * *

'Well I needed a bath anyway. Okay maybe this is a bad time for being funny.' Looking around at the six pissed off nin in varying states of injury that surround him on the rooftop. 'Yep definitely not the time for jokes. Maybe some advice? Hey Kyuubi! You awake back there?' 

'**Yes and I am disappointed that all your enemies still live.'**

'Got any advice on how to rectify that situation?'

'**Nobody you give a damn about is in range, just use my mark.'**

'I was afraid that was my best option.' "Oh well playtime is over now you all die."

"Are you really that arrogant, or have you just gone insane. We have you outnumbered, surrounded, you are disarmed, and you must be running low on chakra by now."

"Sorry, but I don't have to explain myself to the dead." The fox tattoo glowed blood red once more. **"This is a gift from that which it cost the Yondaime Hokage his life to defeat. Feel this power and know that your time has come humans!"** Six tendrils of chakra shot out from Naruto's arm and pierced each of the ninja surrounding him through the heart. This time the tendrils of chakra did not retract until all that was left of their victims was dust. Naruto's body glowed with the blood red energy of Kyuubi's Mark and there was a burst of light before he collapsed on the ground unconscious.

* * *

Doton : Yomi Numa - Earth Element : Swamp of the Underworld

Doton : Doryuu Taiga - Earth Element : Earth River Flow

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Kirigakure no Jutsu - Hidden Mist Technique

Bunshin Bakuha - Shadow Clone Explosion

Hari Jizou - Underworld Guardian Spines

Rasengan - Spiral Sphere

Fuuton : Daitoppa - Wind Element : Great Breakthrough

Hiraishin no Jutsu - Flying Thunder God Technique

Suiton : Baku Suishouha - Water Element : Bursting Water Collision Waves

Suiton : Suiryuudan no Jutsu - Water Element : Water Dragon Projectile Technique

Suiton : Daibakufu no Jutsu - Water Element : Grand Waterfall Technique

Doton : Doryuudan - Earth Element : Earth Dragon Projectile

Kokunangyou no Jutsu - Journey into Black Darkness Technique

Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique

Doton : Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu - Earth Element : Double Suicide Decapitation Technique

Shunshin no Jutsu - Body Flicker Technique


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"Hey fox-teme what the hell is going on in here!?"

"**I have no idea what you are talking about Naruto, but you will address me as Kyuubi-sama."**

"Like hell I will. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Hell just look around and you'll see what I'm talking about!"

Looking about the fox demon sees the sewer like dungeon that has been his prison for so long changing into a snowy wasteland. **"I see nothing out of place."**

"Dammit why does is this place starting to look like hell froze over!"

"**Oh that. Why didn't you just ask that in the first place?"** Seeing the fuming Naruto about to start yelling again the fox decides to save its ears and grins as it says, **"You are turning into a demon with an affinity to ice. It is only natural that your mind would undergo changes just as the rest of you has."**

"So what I'm fully a demon now?"

"**Not quite servant. Those six fools you sacrificed recently were too weak to complete your transformation. They didn't even have enough energy fo the mark to unleash a destructive pulse with. You are between demon and human right now. I believe the term once used was half-demon, or in some languages hanyou? Whatever it matters not what you choose to call this state the fact is you are part human and part demon. In this state your elemental aspect will heavily affect your appearance. This is because your body currently has no other demonic traits. At this point in your transformation into a demon you only have generally demonic traits as well as you demonic elemental aspect."**

"So do I have fur or tails or funny ears or something now?"

"**No those would be specific demonic traits that vary depending on demonic species you belong to. Currently you don't belong to any and thus so no specific traits. What you do have is claws, fangs, slightly enhanced senses, a demonic presence, and your elemental traits."**

"Enhanced senses? A demonic presence? What the hell are you talking about?"

"**Enhanced senses, you will see better, hear better, smell better, and so on. Some enhanced senses are more a curse than a gift though so you'll want to see how much they change and try toning down the ones you don't like. Your demonic presence is similar to killing intent. Anything weaker than you that you use you demonic presence against will have the instinctive urge to run or hide in the presence of something which it cannot hope to stand against rise up and overwhelm all other thoughts. This can be useful if you want to avoid a fight, but not so much if you want to remain undetected. Those you use it will usually do one of four things if affected by it. The most common is they will run away, the second most common** **is they will freeze up and be paralyzed by fear, the third most common is they will try to attack you in desperation. With that response they tend to attack without any skill, without any strategy, and without regards to their own safety. The final response that is relatively common is the run and hide response, similar to the most common one, but different at the same time. Whereas with the first they flee with all their speed in a straight line just to put as much distance between you and them as they can, with this they will run and try to lose you by making a difficult to follow path, and finally they will hide once they run the limit of their endurance. There are a few less common response, but they aren't that much trouble. What you must beware of is using it against those just as strong as or stronger than you. Such beings will either be unaffected or enraged by your presence. Now any other questions about the changes I've mentioned already or can I move on?"**

"Ne Kyuubi-sama just what are my elemental traits, and why can't I see any of these changes on me in here?"

"**I was actually going to cover your elemental traits next, and as for why none of this shows up on you in here is because your soul has yet to be affected by my mark."** Seeing Naruto accepting this answer the fox goes on, **"Your elemental traits are the physical result of your elemental aspects, and yours are ice and wind. This is going to cause some problems for you since Fire Country isn't the coolest place. One trait from your elements is that you are only going to be comfortable when its cold, the colder the better actually, high temperatures won't kill you however it is likely to be very uncomfortable and to weaken you somewhat. This won't have too much effect on you unless you go visit that Gaara kid. Deserts are for you pretty much suicide until you get a lot tougher."**

"Why? Didn't you say that high temperatures would only weaken me?"

"**Yes and a desert is constant high temperatures that will leave you as weak as probably a chuunin, which for you is about the same as suicide.**"

"Oh. Well are there any other traits?"

"**Yes, you will likely have a cloud a super-cold air around you at all times. With just an ice aspect you would only have cold skin, but the wind aspect causes the air in your vicinity to circle you and stay near you**. **This super-cold wind will likely behave much like Gaara's sand and protect from harm whenever it can."**

"How can a slight breeze of cold air stop attacks?"

"**For one by becoming more than a slight breeze. If you get attacked it will probably become a miniature tornado that surrounds you unless you will it otherwise.** **The low temperatures of the winds will freeze anything that comes at you as the winds rip it apart. You'll have to test it out to see its limits of course. There will probably be a layer of frost covering your body too. Hmm did I miss anything..."**

"So I'll have an ultimate defense?"

"**No. A very strong defense, yes. Ultimate? Far from it. Oh yeah and you'll likely be seeing your breath whenever you breath out**."

"What? Why?"

"**Because just like everything else about you it will be incredibly cold. Thus it will freeze the water in the air it touches. Hmm... figuring out how to tone down this stuff in order to drink should be an interesting lesson in control for you."** The fox then let loose barking laughter. Screaming in terror Naruto interrupted the fox's laughter. **"What the hell are you so scared of?"**

Sobbing Naruto's answer could barely be heard by the towering demon lord. "I'll never be able to eat steaming hot ramen again!"

Staring incredulously the fox thought, **'I made him my servant why? Maybe I would've been better off with Akatsuki.'** **"Hey servant stop whining. Just learn to control your powers and you should be fine with your ramen problem."**

"Really?"

Seeing his hopeful gaze the mighty fox was stunned that someone would went through what his container had would react to a simple food in such a manner. **"Yeah, probably anyway. Now I have something you can tell the council and anyone you don't want knowing your turning into a demon that will explain this stuff. You should probably tell that human Jiraiya what the excuse is so that when asked the two of you give the same story."**

"Alright what is it?"

"**Tell them that it is a bloodline limit that manifested while you where fighting against the Mizukage, the two Kiri-Swordsman**, **and the three ANBU. As for the claws, fangs, and senses just say that the bloodline made a permanent connection to my chakra and those are the side effect."**

"Are you sure they'll buy that?"

"**They thought you were me. How intelligent can they be?"**

'Point for the demon fox.' "Okay so should I wake up now?"

"**Yeah. That gama-sennin this you're suffering from a jutsu and is trying to make you warmer while rushing to Konoha. If he starts spreading that story it is less likely anyone will buy yours."

* * *

**'Damn it's hot. What the hell did Ero-sennin drag me off to Suna first or something? Dammit why am I wrapped up in all these blankets?' Thrashing futilely against the blankets for a minute Naruto stops when he hears Jiraiya.

"Naruto! Its about time you woke up. Hey stop struggling against those blankets whatever jutsu they hit you with hasn't worn off yet and you might freeze if you take them off."

"Well I'm frying with them on! Now help me out or I'll break out of them!"

"No can do Naruto. The heat could be a genjutsu mixed in with the ninjutsu they used. Whatever it is I have no idea how it works or what its doing so you'll have to put up with the blankets until I get you to Tsunade."

'Dammit too hot. I'll explain later first to cool off. Kyuubi mentioned some sort of frozen tornado around me, and I know Gaara's sister can create winds that cut through just about everything so maybe I can combine the two.' Jiraiya was leaning over to check and see if Naruto really was hotter than normal now when the wind picked up. It blew out the fire and scattered the camping gear all over. Jiraiya didn't notice this though as around the blanket enshrouded Naruto the winds were forming a small tornado. The winds reached the height of their ferocity and a burst of freezing cold air came from Naruto as the tornado ripped the blankets to shreds. Jiraiya was knocked over by the blast of cold air and regained his feet just as the winds died away.

"Dammit gaki that was cold! What the hell did you just do?"

"Cooled myself off. I'm not suffering under some jutsu, this is just how I am now."

Inspecting Naruto closely Jiraiya asked, "What do you mean?" As Naruto just stood there under Jiraiya's gaze he realized the truth. "You used the fox's tattoo again didn't you? This is part of the demon you're becoming isn't it?"

"Yes. As a demon I am inclined towards the elements of ice and wind."

Grinning Jiraiya said, "Living in Fire Country is gonna be a bitch for you then isn't it gaki?"

"Yes it..." Comprehension dawned on Naruto as he said, "Dammit Jiraiya I'm trying to be serious. This is the time for jokes! Until I figure out how to control this power I can't even have a drink, and anything I eat will be colder than ice."

"Oh come on. It should be like a bloodline limit, while parts need to be learned some things you just know instinctively about it. I bet if you were to try to eat or drink your powers would let it stay as is. After all I doubt there are any baby demons that die cause they don't know how to not freeze whatever they try to drink."

"That is a good point, but I'm not exactly a normal demon. I may not have those instincts."

"Good point. Let's get started then."

"Started?"

"I'm your sensei aren't I? I'm going to help you control these powers."

"Alright, but how far are we from home?"

"Far enough that we can slow down to train your abilities, and not arrive late to Konoha from our mission."

"So we're about three or four days out at a normal pace."

"Yeah. Now lets get to work on drinking..."

* * *

"Ok we're just out of sight of the village so now is the time to hide the changes to your appearance."

"Ok. Hey Jiraiya you remember the cover story right?"

"Of course I do, but we shouldn't need it until we meet with Tsunade. Hopefully the others made it back safely to report on the conditions."

The guards watched as Jiraiya of the Sannin and someone bundled up in more clothes than Shino Aburame approached. Not knowing if it was a trick by their enemies the two Jounin guards called a team of ANBU up in case of trouble.

"They called ANBU."

"Yeah I know. Guess at least one of our team members got here with the news."

"Hopefully it was more than one."

Four ANBU materialized from the shadow's of nearby trees and spoke with the two. "Halt. Are you Jiraiya of the Sannin and Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha?"

"Yes I am."

"Of course I am. Who would disguise themselves as me to get into the village?"

'He has a point he is less trusted by much of the village than an enemy nin would be.' "We still need proof of your identities."

"Fine here." Was all Jiraiya said before he handed over his ID along with Naruto's.

"I still have no evidence that under those rags is Uzumaki."

"What the hell would an enemy gain by pretended to be someone who is quite possibly the most hated ninja in the village. Besides why the hell would a group of enemy shinobi capable of taking down a Sannin and apprentice bother sneaking into the village when they could just as easily destroy it."

Drawing their katana's the ANBU took up combat stances as the leader said, "If you are Uzumaki simply show your face and we will let you pass."

"I can't simply beat the crap out of them why?"

"Just show them your face already."

"Fine Ero-sennin, but next time I'm doing it my way."

"Whatever. You can show off next time. Just show them your face already gaki."

Removing the hoods of both a large cobalt cloak and a navy blue coat much like what Kiba Inuzuka wore as a gennin was just the beginning. Naruto then removed no less than two ski masks, three partial face masks like Kakashi's, a pair of skiing goggles, and a large quantity of gauze wrappings that he wore in a style akin to the deceased kiri-swordsman Momochi Zabuza. Underneath all these face coverings Naruto's face was much as it was before his transformation, but now his canines were fangs that poked out from his lips slightly, his eyes were less like sapphires and more like blue ice crystals, his whisker marks were less defined and almost invisible at a distance, his ears came to a nigh-unnoticeable point, his eyes were slit, and his face and hair seemed to be covered in a thin layer of frost. "There. Happy now?"

The ANBU however were wondering if it was a very bad disguise or if something had happened to the Jinchuuriki while on the mission. "Uh I guess it really is you, but..."

"Look I'm either me or I'm not. Just pick one so we can move on. It really doesn't matter to me if I have to go through you to get home or not."

Feeling a sense of dread as Naruto said those words the ANBU decided that if these really were enemy nin than the Hokage could probably deal with them herself, and besides if she couldn't then what chance did they stand. So with the belief that facing Tsunade afterwards if they were indeed enemies was better than the almost guaranteed death that fighting the two seemed to be the leader of the ANBU put away his katana and stepped aside before saying, "Sorry for the trouble Uzumaki-san, Jiraiya-sama."

Before moving on Naruto once more concealed his face. As he walked by the ANBU to pass through the gate Naruto said, "Wise move ANBU-san. In this case Tsunade's wrath is the lesser of two evils."

Once inside the village Jiraiya couldn't restrain himself anymore and he burst into nearly hysterical laughter. "I think that ANBU nearly wet himself when you used your presence on him."

In a solemn voice Naruto responded, "He was close, but Konoha's ANBU are well trained." In a voice that gave the impression that he was grinning widely he then said, "He made sure to hold it until we had passed by them." Naruto then joined his mentor in laughing hysterically.

When their laughter died down Jiraiya was the first to speak. "Well gaki I gotta admit although that prank didn't have your usually flair it was pretty damn good. Now if we are done terrorizing ANBU however..."

"Aww you always ruined my fun Ero-sennin."

"As I was saying, we should go see Tsunade as soon as possible to explain your new situation."

"Think Baa-chan is in the tower or at the hospital?"

"Uhh..."

"I think she is standing behind one very dead hokage-wannabe."

Swallowing audibly Naruto turned around to the source of an immense killer intent that was right behind him. "Hey Baa-chan long time no see."

"That long time is entirely your fault. Where the hell have you two been, and why are you bundled up more than any Aburame in the village."

"Long story Tsunade, but we should probably wait until we are in your office. You know the place with the guards, sound-proofing seals, sake..."

"I get the picture lets go."

Poofing outside of the Hokage's office the three walked past the guards and sat down before the down swung shut and was locked by a special seal to block noise and prevent interruption. "Okay now this whole story will be marginally more believable without me bundled up, but it might get a little cold in this cramped office so I won't take them off for long." After removing the various cloaks and coats as well as the various items obscuring his face Naruto was shown to be clad in a dark red version of what he wore when he was fifteen. However it was not that which caused Tsunade to gasp in surprise. That reaction was caused by the fact that in addition to his changed facial features his nails were now claws, his skin was covered in frost, and a bone-chilling breeze circled him while lowering the room temperature considerably. "What do you think of the new look Baa-chan?"

Seeing his normal foxy grin didn't ease her concerns at his appearance however and she said, "Explain what happened at once."

"Want me to put this stuff back on so you don't freeze first?"

"Can't you just tone it down?"

"Somewhat, but only enough so that I can eat or drink something. Not really enough that it would be a comfortable temperature in here."

"Oh. Well then yes please put your clothes back on." Ignoring Jiraiya's suppressed chuckles and the scribbling on his notepad for the time being Tsunade asked, "So what happened to you on the mission. Your team reported in almost a week ago with serious wounds on only three of them."

"The ones with serious injuries where Neji, Kiba, and Kakashi right?"

"Yes. Now why did they split off from you two, and what is with the make over?"

After explaining the original mission plan and how Kakashi had gotten wounded trying to get his team out after they were discovered Naruto moved onto what happened in his group. "While investigating Iwagakure no Sato for our mission we saw the Mizukage arrived with two members of the Seven Swordsman. Our group split up at this point further, Kiba, Neji, and Ino where to continue as we had been while Jiraiya and I tailed the Mizukage to find out why he was in town. After two days of following him we found out that the Mizukage and Tsuchikage were meeting to discuss an alliance. The next day we received news that Kakashi and his team needed assistance. Neji, Ino, and Kiba went to help them. Jiraiya and I discovered that the kage's alliance was a preparation for war with Konoha. Apparently Kusa and Ame had already joined Iwa while Kumo was staying out of it. Due to its current state no information about Oto being offered the chance to join was mentioned. Shortly before we were found out by two squads of ANBU that were looking for possible spies in the village some news came from Kakashi's team. Ino had showed up being pursued by Iwa nin along with and injured Kiba and Neji. Kakashi's team defeated the Iwa nin and they were on their way to Konoha with the wounded. Using toad summons I sent the information we had gathered to them in the hopes that it would reach you sooner, and you could be prepared. Shortly after the Anbu found us out the Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and kiri-swordsman showed up. They surrounded us and explained why they weren't calling in any more nin or going to bother with capturing us. Jiraiya and I were separated by the fighting. While engaging the kiri group A latent kekkei genkai I posses activated. I don't know why then, but I due know that due to the fox it was altered. When it matured the kekkei genkai made some kind of connection to the fox's chakra that didn't close. This connection super-charged it and put me into an apparently permanent kyuubified state. The changes due to the fox's chakra are only as bad as they were when I used it's chakra in the wave mission for the most part, but due to the unusual circumstances some things are different. Somehow my whisker marks diminished instead of thickening as usual, and I can't tap into the chakra being drawn on by my kekkei genkai's connection with the fox's chakra. Oh yeah there is no sense of immense rage or bloodlust either."

Stunned Tsunade just sat there for a moment before speaking. "O-kay so is that all that happened? Do you even know what this bloodline does?"

"Yeah that sounds right. As for what gaki's kekkei genkai can do I would have thought that obvious. It is similar to that Haku fellow he mentioned meeting in wave. It is some kind of Ice mastery. Hell the two could've been distant relations. Of course it could be some kind of twist on the Nidaime's abilities too. After all not that many clans produce blondes."

"What am I going to do with you Naruto?"

"Promote me to Hokage?"

"Not yet punk, but that does give me an idea."

As Tsunade gave him an evil smile Naruto thought, 'Maybe I went too far this time?'


	8. Chapter 8

Techniques are translated at the bottom of the page.

I do not own Naruto it is the property of and was created by Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

Walking through the desolate corridor Naruto thought upon his situation. 'This is ridiculous. There is no way the council would approve of me doing this mission. Maybe they haven't heard about it? Better go tell them so they make me turn over the mission to someone better suited to it.'

"Naruto-san. You were almost late. You better not be trying to take after Kakashi-san."

"Shino!" 'Damn, to late to turn back. Taking after Kakashi sounds like a good idea though. Yeah I'll be like Kakashi as a form of protest over this mission!' "How long until the meeting?"

"About five minutes. You aren't going to be like Kakashi-san on purpose now are you?"

Seeing insects begin to fill the way out Naruto hastily replied with, "Of course not Shino, but uh if I did what would be the problem with it?"

"A Hokage cannot be late to important meetings Naruto-san. If you start being late to meetings now what will prevent the habit from continuing once you are Hokage?"

'Trapped by my own ambition.' "Ahh well that is..."

"Aburame Shino!"

Shino glances at Naruto before saying, "You better not be late, Hokage-sama would be most displeased if you were." Then walking into the room.

'Time to go!' Before he could escape from the intimidating halls Naruto heard the words he was dreading.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

'Too late! Damn you Baa-chan I will get you for sending me on this mission.' Clearing his head of somewhat treasonous thoughts Naruto stepped into the room to begin his mission.

* * *

After his announcement the Chuunin thought, 'Naruto! Why did Hokage-sama assign him to this position. Poor guys they are doomed. He better at least be on time.' Looking at the door intently he was grateful when Naruto walked through it. 'What is Shino doing back here?' 

'I know I'm going to regret this, but hopefully she won't assign me with something worse if I do it right. At least it will improve my chances at becoming Hokage if I'm successful.' Looking at the room Naruto was about to speak when the Chuunin that called him in spoke up.

"Shino-san didn't you just leave?"

'Am I really that hard to recognize now? Whatever I'll just continue on.' "Actually I'm not Shino. My name is Uzumaki Naruto Jounin-sensei for team two. Now whoever is in team two meet me on the Hokage monument in..." 'What would be a near impossible time for fresh out of the academy shrimps?' "half an hour." Giving his trademark grin behind his masks Naruto said, "See ya Iruka-sensei!" before vanishing into smoke.

'Was that a clone or the real one?' Giving a mental shrug he too vanished into a cloud of smoke since only two teams passed the final this year.

* * *

Looking at the panting and exhausted Genin hopefuls before him Naruto thought, 'forty minutes. Not too bad, but if they pass speed and endurance are the first things I'm training them in. Now should I go with the sadistic or the kind approach? Whatever that can wait until introductions are over.' "Okay now that we are all here why don't you tell me something about yourselves?" 

Two of them started in confusion while the third cried out in rage, "WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT OF MAKING US RUN ALL THE WAY HERE JUST FOR INTRODUCTIONS?!?! COULDN'T WE HAVE JUST DID THIS AT THE ACADEMY?!?!"

"Hm? I'm sorry but all this clothing I'm wearing muffles sound. Did you say Let's run back to the academy in twenty minutes and do introductions there?"

Paling the boy the shouted quickly said, "No nope right here is a great place for introductions."

"That's what I thought you said. Now why don't you go first since you are so eager."

One of the somewhat confused would-be-genin spoke up and said, "Sensei why don't you go first to show us how it's done?"

"Well alright. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am the future Hokage. I like ramen, training, and well the rest doesn't concern you. I dislike the three minutes it takes to make instant ramen, those who try to harm those who are precious to me, people who judge others without knowing them, and I think that is all. My hobbies are training, pranks, and matters that you are too young to know about. Now why don't we let our overeager associate go next."

"My name is Gekkou Nobori. I will become a master of kenjutsu and join ANBU. I like training and anything which increases my skill. I dislike anything which takes away from my training time. I have no hobbies."

'Interesting, he could go far if he doesn't turn on the village.' "Alright now why don't we let our silent kunoichi go next."

"Me? Well my name is Kaimei Imei. I will be forgotten in the mists of time. I like being unnoticed. I dislike attention. My hobbies are sneaking past ANBU."

'Well she is a bit creepy. Not really sure what to do with her.' "Anyways. Next!"

"My turn?! I go by the name Hamen Hakaiteki. I will be a ninja of unparalleled power. I like explosions, fire, and high-powered ninjutsu. I dislike sneaking around, people who believe that force doesn't solve everything, and genjutsu. My hobbies are the invention of new destructive ninjutsu and making more powerful explosive notes."

'Sounds like Deidara, but without the art fixation. This is going to be a long and painful mission if they pass.' "Well now that we know each other I have some important information for all of you. You all not Genin. In order to become Genin you must pass one more test. This test will be administered by me, and it normally only has a thirty-three percent rate passing average. This year there are only two teams which means I have no idea what your chances are. So are there any questions?"

Nobori was the first to react and he did so by shouting, "What the hell is this test?!"

"I didn't explain what the test is yet? Guess I'll fix that. The test is you have to find me, and retrieve two bells that I have attached to my belt here. In this test I will only use jutsu taught in the academy or kenjutsu. I will fight you while wearing all these clothes which reduces my fighting ability to high-chuunin or low-jounin. You have until nightfall to get the bells. The test begins now."

The three didn't have time to react as Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke, and left behind nothing more than a note which read, _"Good Luck_._"_

Standing on the roof of the academy Naruto thought to himself, 'I wonder how long before they decide to search here, and whether they figure out the teamwork part or not?'

'**They are human children. I give it two hours.'**

'They are genin in training. I give them four.'

* * *

'Five hours, twenty-six minutes, and four seconds. They are either thorough or stupid.' Opening his eyes and looking around Naruto saw his three potential students surrounding him. 'Well at least they seem to be working together, but they have no traps set up, they didn't put a genjutsu on me, and they all have a kunai held in each hand in a position for close range combat not throwing. They can't honestly think they can beat me in a straight up fight even if it is three on one.' Standing up he withdrew a scroll from somewhere and opened it up before summoning his weapon from it. "This is my blade Hie. If you three wish to fight me like warriors I will use this and fight like a shinobi. If you do not come at me with intent to kill then you will not live through this." As the three wannabe-ninja rushed forward Naruto moved within Hakaiteki's guard, disarmed him, pinned him, and held his blade at the boy's throat. "Nobori kill Imei or Hakaiteki dies." Seeing the usually confident boy pale and begin stuttering while the kunoichi backed away slowly Naruto spoke up again, "You three came at me directly and honorably. That is foolish. We are ninja not samurai. Attacking your enemy from the front and without deception is occasionally the best way to resolve a situation however as ninja it is far more frequently deception and stealth that is necessary to achieve our goals as shinobi. In a mission it is entirely possible that you will face a choice much like this one. This is why you should always look underneath the underneath and try to hide what you are truly doing even deeper than that. You still have some time before sunset, the next time you three find me I expect you to try and obtain the bells in a manner befitting shinobi of Konoha." Leaping through the open window at his back Naruto vanished once more. 

"I told you that he we wouldn't be able to get the bells without tricking him in some manner."

"Shut it Imei."

"You just don't like the fact that sensei beat you so badly."

"What the hell Nobori! I thought you were on my side?"

"I just wanted to test out our sensei's combat abilities before trying to get the bells in earnest."

"Fine, what is the plan Imei?"

"It is simple all we nee to do is..."

* * *

'**It would seem your future pupils are even dumber than you were at that age.'**

'I was never anywhere near that dense.'

'**Oh? This coming from the one who took years to notice that an attractive vixen was madly in love with you and simple was afraid of you rejecting her? Or maybe a better example is how you let a murderous traitor go on multiple occasions where you had ample opportunity to kill him, and thus let your enemy gain a powerful advantage that made him even more difficult to defeat in the end? Or how about...'**

'Alright, alright I get the idea. I have been quite dense at times, but I never attacked an enemy like those three did unless I was enraged. Besides it wouldn't have taken me over five hours to decide to check the academy for my sensei if that had been my genin test.' Hearing the fox's derisive snort Naruto was about to continue arguing with the voice in his head when he sensed a genjutsu being cast on him. 'So either Imei struck out on her own or they are using a strategy this time.' Breaking out of the weak genjutsu Naruto searched the forest for any sign of his potential students.

"I have you now sensei!" Hakaiteki jumped out in front of Naruto and threw two kunai which impacted the ground before he preformed some handseals and called out, **"Katon : Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"**

Disdaining to evade since he didn't know if the other two had a trap waiting for him to do that Naruto simply raised his nodachi in preparation to cut the fireball in half. As it approached however he noticed some smoke coming from the kunai at his feet. 'Exploding notes! Looks like I'll have to risk moving, but where would they least expect?'

Watching from the trees Imei and Nobori saw the fireball engulf their sensei, and saw the exploding notes go off right after that. Looking at each other the two had the same thing go through their heads, 'We killed him!'

While his teammates where distracted however Hakaiteki saw Naruto slice through the fireball while charging at him. Before Hakaiteki could react Naruto knocked him out, hid him in the trees nearby, and transformed into him. Naruto then called out, "We got him!"

Whispering to Nobori before he could respond to Hakaiteki's call Imei said, "Go out and talk with him, I'll stay hidden in case sensei is just trying to trick us into thinking we've won so we come out of hiding."

"How could he have survived that without dodging?"

"He wouldn't become a Jounin if he wasn't good enough to escape danger without fresh genin noticing."

Nobori nodded then revealed himself to the disguised Naruto. "You know we I'm pretty sure we don't pass if we kill the Jounin-sensei. Also if the bells were destroyed we don't pass anyway."

'Good it seems they didn't notice the switch.' "Uh oops?"

"Lets just check out if sensei was really defeated by that or if he went into hiding again."

"Okay, but do you think Imei will be okay on her own if sensei is hiding?"

"He hasn't gone on the offensive yet why would he start now?"

"Well he might have decided that he should take one of us out while the others were distracted. After all it is almost sundown so he has no reason to let us go after this."

"Good point. Alright lets go to Imei before the smoke clears incase he is just waiting there."

"No way! My exploding notes can take anyone out!"

'Hakaiteki's notes are that powerful, but those notes were mine. If he doesn't know those weren't his own notes than he must not be Hakaiteki. So that is were sensei went, but how to alert Imei. And where is the real Hakaiteki?' "Hey Hakaiteki. Do you think sensei will be able to get out of the trap he is in right now?"

"No way."

"Oh and why don't you think he get out of Imei's genjutsu disguised trap?"

"So you figured it out?"

"Yes. Where is the real Hakaiteki?"

"Taking a nap. Shouldn't you be setting off the trap you lead me into, and stealing the bells right about now?"

"I would, but Imei is in charge of the traps here, and I'm in one myself."

"Do you two surrender?"

"No, but you should sensei."

The words coming from above him were Naruto's only warning as kunai began flying out of the treetops, and the ground began to explode. "Isn't this a bit of overkill?"

Nobori leaped at Naruto with a tanto drawn. "Those bells will be ours sensei."

Landing on one of the few safe branches in the area Naruto said, "That might be a bit difficult."

Pressing his assault Nobori asked, "Why?"

Evading Nobori's strikes Naruto answered with, "Well because the only one of you three that is able to leave here is Imei right now, and the bells are back in your classroom at the academy."

Stumbling mid strike Nobori shouted, "WHAT!"

Overly serious Naruto said, "Like I said. Look underneath the underneath. None of you even checked to see if I had the bells when you found me at the academy, and you haven't checked yet in this fight either."

Resuming his attack Nobori said, "Imei! Hurry back to the academy for the bells I will stall sensei."

Landing on the opposite side of Naruto from Nobori she said, "Not a chance. Besides if I run he'll beat you easily then go and catch me." She then began attacking Naruto with rather poor taijutsu.

'Damn they've showed sufficient teamwork and skill to pass.' "Stop! The test is over." Watching his students leap back Naruto began grinning like a madman.

"What?!"

"The sun is still up!"

Happily Naruto replied with, "This wasn't a test more like an evaluation. True getting the bells would've helped your evaluation, but it would not guarantee passing. However I have sufficiently evaluated all of you, and my decision is that you all pass. So before you leave one of you be sure to inform Hakaiteki of this. Bye." Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke before his students realized what he said.

* * *

Katon : Goukakyuu no Jutsu - Fire Element : Great Fireball Technique 


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Naruto.

Techniques are translated at the bottom.

* * *

A nondescript man approaches a shadowed figure sitting on a gruesome throne of bone. "The Tsuchikageh and Mizukage have both been killed ahead of schedule. Do you want me to advance the rest of the plans to adjust for this discrepancy?" 

The shadowed figure replies in a barely human voice, "No. We will change the plans completely. Replace the kages of all our allies with our men. We will have them behave as would be expected until we are ready to strike."

"What do you wish to be done with the Raikage and the Kazekage?"

"See if you can get the Raikage to join us fully, if not then kill him. Have our agents turn the populace against the Kazekage and his siblings. Get the people and daimyo of the Wind country to turn against as much of Sunagakure's government as possible. If his people turn on him the Kazekage will easy fall back into the murderous beast he once was. Do not provoke the people far enough that the revolt just yet, but make sure that the Kazekage knows his people hate him. Now on to other business. How goes efforts to make sure the bijuu don't interfere with my plans?"

As the nondescript man leaves another figure steps out from behind the throne. Remaining within the shadows all that can be seen of the figure is a pair of blazing red eyes with three tomoe circling their irises. "We lost track of the ichibi in the wind country's desert and suspect it has been resealed. Its new container is unknown however. The nibi's trail still eludes us as well. The sanbi through rokubi have been returned to their world either through their own will or by force. All the remaining bijuu are sealed once more."

"Good and has any progress been made in verifying the death of Akatsuki?"

"No. Either they were wiped out so thoroughly nothing remained, or they have gone into hiding once more. The former is suspected since rain country has collapsed back into a civil war in the wake of Akatsuki's vanishing."

"Very well we shall carry on as if the truly are gone, but be on guard in case it is a deception. Now how goes my side project."

As it steps back into the complete darkness behind the throne the figure says, "I shall let the first of what shall be many successes tell you themselves."

Walking into the room is an imposing man carrying a sword almost as large as he is. Alongside him is a masked figure that seems incredibly frail next to the other, but whose eyes hold only pain and madness. The larger figure speaks up in a voice of barely restrained bloodlust, "You plan is the epitome of foolishness. Making an army of defeated enemies to fight someone will never work, particularly when the army has no reason to fight you or your enemy."

"Really? You don't want revenge for your fate? You don't even want to repay the debt you owe me?"

"Debt?! You truly are a fool if you think we are indebted to you because pf this. You took us from that which we had earned, and tormented us until you thought we would serve you. If we were to properly repay you for that debt you would suffer in the most painful ways we can discover. Unfortunately you tinkering did have one result you had intended for and we can't harm you or your subordinates unless they start it. As for the revenge bit, well why should we want revenge when it was our own actions that lead to our fates. If you want loyal lapdogs don't look amongst the denizens of hell, our only loyalties are to ourselves and our own."

"You are most uncooperative. It would seem I need to go to plan B on how to control you two." Before either of the two men can react the figure on the throne launches two kunai which impale each of the men in the neck. "Now don't you feel more cooperative?" Both the men simply stood and stared at the figure on the throne. "I seem to have broken them. Oh well with the exception of control it seems to work perfectly. I suppose I shall just need to bring back those with more hate from now on. Isn't that right Zabuza?" As the figure begins to laugh malevolently the man once known as Momochi Zabuza, Demon of Kirigakure, stands impassively, but with hatred and bloodlust shining in the depths of his eyes.

* * *

In a battle-scarred clearing within a deep forest three genin are fighting against an army of air? Standing impassively nearby a heavily bundled figure thinks to himself, 'I wonder if they realized it is just a genjutsu yet? Well since we really need to move on with the training I'll drop it I guess.' The three genin who were before vigorously attacking the air suddenly whirl about looking for enemies. "Your genjutsu detection abilities are lacking. You will practice them in your spare time or I will bring in other Jounin to asist me in your training of that shinobi skill. Your next exercise is to climb trees without using your hands. For today you are to try and figure out this chakra excercise on your own." Watching the three genin start trying to run up trees while muttering under their breath at him caused a small sadistic smile to grow on the figure's hidden face. 'Hmm Naruto's methods for training are far more interesting than the usual ones. Even if they do require far to much talking. I wonder how he and his genin are doing?'

* * *

"Okay you three have learned both the tree-climbing and water-walking exercises. Your chakra control should be sufficient for now. However this means we shall be beginning your physical training. How? Well that is simple, you will all wear these weights while training. It is only fifty pounds per genin right now so no complaining. Your first training exercise shall be to run around the wall of Konoha. By this I mean you will stick to said wall with chakra then run around it, and the village, until I say that it is enough. Well stop gaping at me like idiots and get to it before I decide to move on to taijutsu practice." Following the now panicking genin Naruto watched as they began the exercise. 'Well at least with the ban on D-ranked missions there is plenty of time to train. At this rate we'll be ready for a C-ranked mission or two no problem. Maybe if they're good enough I'll enter them into the upcoming exam.' 

**'I still think you should just give them to me. You could say it was a training accident. With your methods it would be believable at least.'**

'Oh? You're speaking to me again? What have I done to deserve this dubious honor?'

**'I see you learned some bigger words while I was away.'**

'Away? What the hell do you mean away you damn fox? You are supposed to be trapped. There shouldn't be an away for you to go to.'

**'Didn't I mention that? With the power the mark transfers to me I can open a doorway to some other planes of existence. Do to my bodiless situation those I can actually go to are rather limited, but those I can go to are some of the more useful ones. What with them being full of hyper-intelligent beings, gods, and what not.'**

'They are going to come destroy me for your transgressions or anything like that are they?'

**'Probably not, but that isn't important. What is important is that while that last bunch of humans you had the mark consume weren't much they were enough to make your transformation self-sustaining. In little words so you can understand it that means that you don't have to use the mark anymore unless you want to and you will still become a true demon. The bad news is that with the help of some extra-planar beings I was able to figure out exactly what kind of demon you will be.'**

'This is bad how?'

**'You remember how when I first told you about this you asked if you would become a kitsune, and I said it wasn't likely. Well apparently it was more likely than I thought since…'**

'Are you trying to tell me that I am going to become a kitsune in a village were people hate kitsune with an insane fury, and they already hate me due to ignorant suspicion that I may be a kitsune? If that is indeed what you are saying than I will spend the next few centuries growing stronger and finding out ways of unsealing you without either of us dieing. Just so I can make you suffer unspeaking torment for making my dream completely and utterly impossible.'

**'Well it's not all bad. You'll have one tail and silvery blue fur so no one will mistake you for me unless they are a complete idiot. Of course at first you won't be able to take a fully human form, actually even your current appearance will likely be more than you can manage until you get a good control over your demonic abilities. With how the villagers and council members are you will likely need to leave Konoha for a few years after the transformation completes, and train your demonic abilities on your own.'**

'How long do I have?'

**'I would say that for you completing the transformation will take at most two months.'**

'So I don't even have time to get my team through the chunin exams? Well I better just make sure that they are ready for those exams within the next two months. If I'm leaving the village for an unknown number of years I'm not leaving anything undone.' Checking on his students Naruto sees his team slowing making its way around the wall. "Nobori! Imei! Hakaiteki! Training is over for today, meet me at the hokage tower tomorrow for your first mission!"

* * *

"Hey Baa-chan you got any C-rank missions my team can do?" 

"Well I have plenty of C-rank missions, but there aren't any your team can do."

"What?! Why not? Please Baa-chan! If I'm out of the village on a mission I won't be here to bug you after all."

"You really think they can complete a C-rank mission after less than two months of training?"

"Of course they can! They were trained be me after all."

"Whatever. Fine here is an easy mission. Even with you leading it this mission couldn't get screwed up."

"Alright I suppose it will do for a first mission. Now before my team shows up to find out about the mission I have a request. I know that before you were Hokage you had some kind of exemption that let you stay away from the village as long as you wanted yet still be considered a shinobi of Konoha. I also know that Ero-sennin has a similar deal. Within two months or so I'm going to need to leave the village to train my new abilities. This could take years so I would like to request something like that for myself."

Looking into Naruto's eyes in such a way that she seems to be observe his very soul Tsunade asks, "Why can't you train them here, and why could it take years?"

Squirming under her penetrating stare Naruto quickly says, "Well the whole kyuubi-kekkei genkai thing is getting worse. If I don't figure out how to control it I might become a fox myself. I'm already getting more fox like features. It could take years simply because there is no one to instruct me. I will have to figure it out as I go along."

Drawing some sake out from one of the many hiding spaces in the desk Tsunade just begins to drink before she says, "Fine I'll see what I can do, but you better not take too long. You still have to take over this job after all. By the way what took you so long to ask about a mission for your team? You haven't been training them for something like the B or A-rank missions your C-ranks usually turn out to be have you?"

"Well actually yeah I have. After all I'm leading the mission. Won't that increase the chance that it is a B or an A-ranked mission in disguise?"

"Just go. You have a group of merchants to escort."

"With my luck it is a group of merchants that have missing-nin after them or something. Bye Baa-chan!" When Naruto regained consciousness from the empty sake bottle hitting him his team was already there.

"Naruto-sensei did you acquire our mission before you were attacked by a sake bottle or do we have to go retrieve it?"

"I got the mission. We'll need supplies for two weeks or so. We meet up with the merchants at noon by the gate."

"What kind of forces are we likely to have to fight?"

"Most likely bandits, but be prepared to take on a chunin at least. My missions tend to get complicated. Now go prepare."

* * *

"Sensei I can understand you want to try a fit in training while on this mission, but why must we wear the weights? Won't they hinder our performance in the event of an enemy attack?" 

"Plus they make us so loud."

"I can't get away from my explosive notes before they blow up with these things on!"

"It is training. Yes, but I can pick up the slack. Too bad learn to be quiet with them on. Good you shouldn't use them on this mission anyway since they might damage the merchants or their goods. Now quit complaining and keep alert for any enemies."

One of the merchants approaches Naruto and says, "Are you sure those kids are capable escorts?"

"Of course they are. I trained them myself. As long as no Chunin show up they can handle things. What kind of goods are you carrying anyways?"

"Oh just the usual some food, clothes, weapons, and what not. The Hokage seemed rather worried when she told us who was to be our escort. Is there something we should know about?"

"Oh that well missions just have a habit of going awry on me. Usually when customers say it's a C-ranked mission and I'm assigned it the mission turns out to be far more they we were told, but if you didn't lie to the Hokage then everything should be fine."

"Oh of course. Of course. If I may be so bold. Why do you wear so much clothing?"

"It's for protection."

"Protection. Protection from what exactly?"

"From me." Hearing something in the forest nearby Naruto signals his team to prepare for battle. To the merchant nearby Naruto said, "You should get back to your goods we seem to have company." As the noises from the forest approached Naruto could tell that they were shinobi of average skill and that there was seven or so of them. 'This is going to be messy. I hope my team is ready for this.' Naruto readied himself for battle by placing a kunai in his mouth, drawing Hie, and readying some shuriken.

As they cleared the tree line three of the ninja were taken out by a combination of exploding kunai, a genjutsu to distort depth perception, and a barrage of shuriken from Naruto. Nobori attacked a fourth ninja who managed to hold off the young kenjutsu specialist with a pair of kunai. Imei waited in the shadows and killed the last enemy to leave the trees before going into the forest to look for more enemies. Naruto let the kunai in his mouth fall into his hand as he charged the last two. One died as the kunai was jammed into his lung, and the other was decapitated by Hie. Hakaiteki cast a genjutsu on Nobori's opponent that allowed Nobori to incapacitate him.

"Good work. Now go assist Imei in checking the area for others. Don't get caught, but don't let any get away." As the genin left Naruto approached the incapacitated survivor. Waking him up Naruto began his interrogation. "What was your target?"

"Your interrogation technique needs work."

Removing the covering over his eyes and one hand Naruto grabbed the man by his throat and growled.

Shaking in fear, or maybe just from the chill of Naruto's touch the man began to speak, "We were after the genin. Some guy with really creepy chakra told us to capture the genin and bring them to him."

"How many of you are there, and where did the guy tell you to meet him?"

"No way they'll kill me if I talk!"

"I'll do worse if you don't. Now tell me what I want to know, or you will be begging for death long before I'm through with you."

Looking into Naruto's eyes and seeing the demon within the man's resistance crumbles. "There was about twenty of us in the beginning, we have a trap waiting for the genin in the woods, we were supposed to meet him in the ruins of Otogakure. Now please just let me go."

As the man who was once a shinobi began to weep in terror Naruto hid his eyes and hand once more before he said, "No." As the man tried to flee Naruto killed him with Hie before taking off into the forrest after his genin leaving the merchants to wonder what was going on.

Rushing through the forest Naruto came to a clearing that had been scorched by explosions and fire jutsu. Looking over the bodies in the clearing Naruto was both glad and worried that none of his students were amongst them. Looking around the clearing Naruto found no sign of his students, just three bodies. Looking them over he found nothing to identify them by. Hearing someone coming up behind him Naruto whirled about and got into a ready stance with Hie. "Imei?"

"Hello sensei. The others were captured. I don't know where they were taken. What should we do?"

Being unable to detect a genjutsu Naruto trusted that it was indeed his female student. "I believe I know where they were taken. I will deal with it." Making a handsign Naruto preformed, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** Looking over the five clones Naruto began to issue his orders, "You three clones are to disguise yourselves as the genin. Then you four are to go back to the merchants and complete the mission. Imei, you and the last clone are to return to Konoha and tell Hokage-sama what has happened. I'm going after the others. Now lets go!" A moment later the silence of death fell upon the clearing as the living left it.

* * *

Naruto caught up with his students and their captors on the edge of Fire Country. "Let the genin go and I might let you leave here alive." 

"What are you gonna do about it? You may be a Jounin but you are still outnumbered, and we have hostages."

"I am Uzumaki Nauto and I am never outnumbered. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Creating twenty shadow clones Naruto continues with, "As for the hostage part. Well genin I trained tend to make bad hostages. Especially those two."

**"Bunshin Bakuha!"**

"If you capture ninja always make sure to bind them in such a way as to prevent the formation of handseals"

As the two genin reappeared next to Naruto he began remove all the excess clothing he had on to hide his powers. "Nobori get Hakaiteki out of here. Head for Konoha. I'll join you when I can."

"Very well sensei."

"Kick some ass!"

The smoke cleared from the clone's explosion and revealed a group of rather pissed off shinobi. "Damnit they got away!"

"Just die." The clone army charged the ninja en masse, but these ninja were apparently the most skilled of the batch yet. Only two enemy ninja died at the hands of the clones before they were all dispersed. As the now overconfident ninja charged Naruto he unleashed his full demonic power for the first time in a battle. The air immediately chilled to near artic temperatures on the battlefield, the ground was coated in a heavy frost, and blades of ice roughly a foot long swirled around Naruto. The charging ninja stopped in their tracks as the full force of Naruto's demonic power hit them. The effects of the immense amount of demonic energy Naruto released was akin to massive amounts of killing intent. All the ninja saw their deaths at the hands of the monster before them, but knew that it was not due to genjutsu or killing intent, but instead it was their own survival instincts showing them what will happen when they attack the creature releasing this inhuman power. None of them however saw how they would truly die. As Naruto stalked towards them their surroundings grew colder and colder. When he was only a few feet away the water in their bodies began to freeze. By the time Naruto walked past them to go to the ruins of Otogakure their bodies had frozen solid from the inside out. "Fools."

* * *

As he approached the ruins Naruto felt an overwhelming and familiar chakra. 'This chakra! It can't be!' 

A figure detached itself from the shadows and laughed, "Kukuku hello Naruto-kun did you miss me?"

"Orochimaru! How the hell are you still alive?"

"Kabuto implanted some of my remains into his own body. I'm not entirely sure why, but it allowed me another chance. I slowly took over his body. Kabuto found out what I was doing and used my soul transfer jutsu to move into another body before I took his body over and destroyed his soul."

"You should be called the gokiburi-sennin instead of the hebi-sennin with how hard it is to kill you."

"Now, now Naruto-kun is that anyway to treat someone who has brought you news of you friend Sasuke?"

"Stop with the Naruto-kun crap we are enemies! I don't really give a damn about what you've done with the teme's corpse either."

"Corpse? Sasuke-kun is quite alive. Admittedly his wounds were quite severe, but apparently he managed to copy my soul transfer jutsu with those lovely eyes of his when I tried using it on him all those years ago."

"Sasuke-teme is alive?!"

**'Kit if you get obsessed over the Uchiha again I will send you to a distant portion of the underworld and never tell you how to change into human form.'**

'Can't I at least hunt him down and make sure he stays dead when I kill him again?'

**'I'll consider your proposal. For now just kill that hebi-gokiburi-man thing standing before us. Its existence offends me servant.'**

"Oi! Gokiburi-teme this time when I kill you, stay dead damnit!"

"Ah but Uzumaki-san I was only here to deliver a message, not to fight. That is their job." Sinking into the Earth Orochimaru escapes just as everything begins to freeze.

"Strange I do not remember you having the ability to manipulate ice from our last fight. It will be quite interesting to see how my ice manipulation compares to another's however."

'That voice, but he's dead!'

In a swirl of mist and ice two figures appear before Naruto. One is slightly crouched with one hand on the blade on his back and the other hand in a half-seal. The other is masked and standing with arms half bent ready to throw the numerous senbon in his hands. "You look almost like a real ninja now kid. You're still no match for a demon like me though."

"How the hell are you two alive again?"

"Orochimaru-san used his jutsu to bring Zabuza-sama and myself back to life for the sole purpose of fighting you. In order to make sure we do so he used another jutsu which forces us to follow his orders. It seems that we must fight once more Naruto-san."

"Unless you have somehow grown stronger while dead you two stand no chance against me. I am sorry your that we must fight as enemies once more, but I will not hesitate to send you back to the afterlife."

"Not be to confident kid. I learned a few things from the other demons in hell. Haku won't hold back this time either."

"Unless you are each as strong as a bijuu you are no threat to me. Haku might recognize this attack." Raising one hand Naruto pointed towards the two resurrected shinobi and called out, **"Sensatsu Suishou!"** Causing uncountable spikes of ice to form in the air and shoot at them.

Zabuza destroyed the ones aimed at him with his sword while Haku nimbly jumped out of the way. After the attack was dealt with Zabuza performed his **Kirigakure no Jutsu** to hide Haku and himself from Naruto's sight. Haku used the mist as cover to launch senbon from various angles at Naruto's vitals.

Naruto knocked the senbon away by calling up an icy wind around his body. He then drew Hie and began to chant under his breath.

Zabuza used Naruto's chanting to locate him then he moved in for the kill. Haku prepared to nail all of Naruto's vitals with senbon at once with the aid of his **Makyou Hyoushou**.

"Let you grasp freeze their blood, let the blade in your pale hands cleave their souls, observe their fate. **Mushinoiki!**" Just before Zabuza could decapitate him or Haku turned him into a pincushion Naruto finished the chant and unleashed his attack. They turned once dead ninja felt the very air freeze around them from the deadly chill coming off Naruto's blade which was glowing with a pale blue light. They didn't even have time to cry out before Naruto swung his blade, causing a gust of wind to spread outwards from Naruto and destroy all that had frozen. When the wind passed the senbon Haku threw, Zabuza's blade, the ruined buildings nearby, and even Zabuza and Haku themselves had been reduced to tiny ice crystals settling to the ground.

"Rest in peace until the end of time this time Zabuza and Haku. You deserve that at the very least." With that Naruto reigned in his power and started back to Konoha.

From the shadows a figure watched it all. 'Kukuku it seems the vessel has grown considerably stronger since we last met. He might even be a threat to me now. I wonder how Sasuke-kun will take the news the he has been surpassed by the vessel?'

* * *

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique 

Bunshin Bakuha - Shadow Clone Explosion

Sensatsu Suishou - Death by a Thousand Flying Water Needles

Kirigakure no Jutsu - Hidden Mist Technique

Makyou Hyoushou - Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors

Mushinoiki - Breath of Death ( Literal is "faint breath" or "at death's door". )


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"Could you repeat that?"

"Why?"

"Because there is no way in hell you just said that Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke are alive."

"I didn't say that. I said that Orochimaru is alive and he is resurrecting other dead ninja with the help of Yakushi Kabuto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"I need a drink, no two drinks."

"What's the problem Baa-chan we just gotta kick their asses again."

"We are at war with two of the great shinobi nations and their allies, we have undead ninja threatening us, and we have no idea what is going on with the bijuu. At this point things cannot possibly get worse for us."

On the heels of that statement a nondescript ninja rushes in and says, "Kumogakure has joined into the Iwa-Mizu alliance!"

"Goddamnit anymore bad news I need to here before I can get drunk!"

"Probably."

"Shut up Naruto!"

Before Tsunade can maim the blonde demonic shinobi another nondescript ninja rushes in to say, "Hokage-sama the land of wind is considering removing the current Kazekage to join in the Iwa-Mizu alliance!"

"Fantastic! Anymore good news? Hey Naruto I don't suppose the Kyuubi is going to get loose all of a sudden? No, I got a better one all the Bijuu are marching on the village. Yeah that should round out the day nicely."

"The Kyuubi is getting loose!"

"No you twit its sarcasm! Everyone get the hell out of my office so I can get drunk damnit!" As the brave ninja rush out of the room they hear, "And someone better tell Shizune that the next person to enter this office today dies even if it's the end of the world!"

**'I like her. I think I'll let her live when I have this village destroyed.'**

'You're not destroying the village Kyuubi!'

**'…'**

'Are you pouting?'

**'I am the great and mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune! I! Don't! Pout! Anyone who says otherwise is a liar and a snack. I was brooding.'**

'Oh crap that's worse. Now I have a giant, furry, nine-tailed, vulpine, Sasuke in my head!'

**'I can speed up the transformation and turn you into a fox right now you know.'**

'I'll be good.'

**'How are those brats you're supposed to be teaching doing?'**

'They're pissed off that I made them spar with Lee after increasing their weights for not removing the weights to fight.'

**'I'll make a demon out of you yet kit.'**

'Gee thanks. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, oh wait, no that's just you I'm feeling.'

Looking around to find where he went after fleeing the Hokage's wrath and talking with his tenant Naruto found himself watching Lee and his students. 'They look pretty bad. I think that's enough. Maybe if I'm quick we can get away before he begins a speech on the flames of youth.' "Alright that's enough! Thank you for the assistance Lee, but their training is over for the day."

"It was nothing Naruto! I enjoyed aiding in the education of three youthful ninjas about the burning flames of youth!"

Looking around for his students to see if they could get away yet or not he found the training grounds devoid of anyone besides Lee and himself. 'Traitors. Leaving me here to face him alone. I will make them pay for this crime. Ungrateful brats.'

"Naruto it seems I have kept you for too long. Your most youthful students have gone on to find other equally youthful ways to make their passionate flames of youth burn even stronger."

"Sure. I'm sure that's what they did Lee. Bye." Running at speeds only achievable when the fear of Lee or Gai is in someone Naruto rapidly escaped the spandex clad taijutsu master.

* * *

**'You are running out of time for goodbyes. You have a few days at most before for turn into a full demon.'**

'Well I've settled things with all my friends, but I haven't even seen Hinata in months. Even Neji won't tell me anymore then that she is caught up with some kind of family affairs and no one can see her. What the hell kind of family affairs take months damnit!'

**'I can think of a few off the top of my head, but I doubt they're what it is.'**

'I'm not sure I want to know what you're thinking of just yet Kyuubi.'

**'Just sneak in and visit her. You are a shinobi are you not? Aren't you Uzumaki Naruto the boy who was evading Chuunin at age nine, Jounin at age ten, and ANBU at age eleven? Are you not the master prankster who defaced the most honored monument in a shinobi village in broad daylight in full view of the public with no one the wiser until you had finished?'**

'Well yeah but…'

**'But nothing! Sneak into the Hyuuga residence, see the vixen, say your goodbyes, and then lets get the hell out of here before you start moping about something else!'**

'Was that an order?'

**'Damn right it was servant. Now get to work!'**

Giving a grin which is far too vulpine in nature to appear on a completely human face, Naruto takes off to sneak into the home of a clan renowned for its observational prowess. 'I don't suppose there is any sort of demonic illusion I could use to make this easier?'

**'Not really. Doing it at night might help though.'**

'No way. If the Hyuuga are going to be watching for intruders at all then it will be at night. After all who expects someone to sneak in at noon. Nobody that's who. Everyone expects people to sneak in at midnight with the cover of night so they keep watch heaviest then. In the day however you can stumble about half drunkenly while sneaking in and anyone who finds your trail will think its just someone who lives there disturbing things.'

**'You've put far too much thought into this for someone who has neither illicit liaisons with people in the house nor intends to rob said house.'**

'I had one hell of a prank planned for them, but when I graduated the academy I decided not to go through with it, and what about for a person who doesn't want to kill them?'

**'If you struck during the day with the intention to kill you would miss far more than if you struck at night while they were at home asleep.'**

'For a giant demon fox you know far too much about ways to kill while in a human body.'

**'Thank you.'**

'That wasn't a compliment. It's kind of creepy actually.'

**'Just finish sneaking in before I get bored and flare my chakra to attract attention.'**

'I'm right outside her window. That's pretty thoroughly snuck in I'd say.' Opening the window before carefully climbing in and closing it behind him Naruto turns around and sees two Eyes staring into his own with the byakugan active.

"Identify yourself intruder."

"Hi Hinata."

"I know who I am. Now, tell me who you are before I decide to kill you and find out later."

"It's me. Naruto. You know blonde, future-hokage, jinchuuriki for Kyuubi, and well do I really need to go on?"

"Prove it."

"Huh?"

"You are hidden beneath so much clothe that the byakugan can barely make you out. Now prove that you are Uzumaki Naruto."

"How? If I move you'll kill me, remember?"

With a strange glint in her eyes Hinata leaned forward and whispered to Naruto, "Kiss me."

"What? You just want some stranger to kiss you?"

"It's the only way to tell if you're the real Naruto or not."

"How can I kiss you with all this clothe in the way?"

"Like this." Removing the numerous layers of clothe Hinata revealed Naruto's face beneath it all before leaning in for a passionate kiss. Breaking apart Hinata said, "Nope you're not Naruto. Too bad I have to kill you. You're a pretty good kisser."

"No fair Hinata-chan! Besides since when do you make it a habit to look through the clothes of strange men that sneak into your room?"

As the two break down into laughter from their mock quarrel Hinata says, "What took you so long?"

"Well everyone said you were held up by important family business and no one could see you. Then I got a genin team to look after."

"Wait Tsunade-sama trusted you with some genin? Our dear Hokage must've cracked under the pressure. Giving a team of impressionable young genin to a man whose role-models were Kakashi and Jiraiya when it comes to teaching."

"Hey! I go and sneak past the Hyuuga clan to visit you and you repay me by taunting me."

"I'm sorry Naruto it's just so much fun to tease you."

"So what is this family business anyway?"

Blushing Hinata stutters out, "Well it's umm w-w-well it's you k-know f-f-family things."

Looking at her he just sighs. "Not really, nope, I have no clue. You look fine. Nobody is worried about anything bad happening to you. So I can't think of something that would require you to stay at home. However I've learned to just let you tell me when you're ready whenever you start blushing and stuttering. It does usually wind up being a good thing though so I can wait till you tell me."

"Thank you Naruto. Now I suspect you had some other reason for sneaking in aside from just seeing me so tell me what it is."

"You sure you don't want to talk about something else?"

With her blush completely gone and in a firm almost commanding voice Hinata said, "Yes I am sure now spill it."

"Well can I activate the privacy seals first?"

"Fine, but stop stalling."

'She knows me way too well for my own good.'

**'Damn right kit. You're screwed unless you tell her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.'**

'Thanks for the vote of confidence.' "Well you see on that mission I left for after the last time we met I got captured by Akatsuki. The fox really didn't want to serve them so it made a deal with me. The deal resulted in me getting this tattoo here which is really like a seal or something. Anyway this thing wiped out Akatsuki for me, but it also started to turn me into a demon. It also made me Kyuubi's servant, but all that really means is the fox bitches at me to destroy konoha more. Also since I'm the fox's servant and vessel I'm pretty much it's second in command or something while here in the human world possibly whatever world it came from too. Anyway as you can tell from my appearance the transformation into a demon is nearing completion. It should finish in a couple days at most according to the fox, but once its done I'll be stuck in my full demon form until I figure out how to change into a human form. Because of that I'm going away from the village for awhile, probably a few years, to control my new abilities. I've told everyone else that it was a latent kekkei-genkai that some how mixed with the fox's chakra or something and I need to leave the village to learn how to control it and keep the fox from doing anything. Jiraiya knows the truth though, and he might tell Baa-chan eventually."

"Wow. Can I come along?"

"Well no. Ya see I had to get an exemption thingie that allows me to leave the village and be out of contact for long indeterminate periods of time without being labeled a missing nin. I doubt I can get Baa-chan to give you one on such short notice."

"Maybe we can get her to make it a mission?"

"Nope tried that. You need a fairly set time period for a mission, but I don't have one." At this Hinata began to pout. 'Oh crap she looks like someone killed her dog now.' "I'll be sure to come back soon Hinata, and I'll find some way to keep in touch with you ok?"

Smiling Hinata said, "Alright. I suppose I can accept that. You had better come back soon though."

"I will be back as soon as I can. I promise Hinata-chan." With those words he turned off the privacy seals and snuck out of the Hyuuga complex.

As her form shifted to one slightly smaller, younger, and more condescending the woman once disguised as Hinata said, "Perfect. Hinata's boytoy is leaving on some kind of classified mission. I wish I knew what all that coded crap he said meant. Oh well Father will be happy he is going to be gone for a few years at least. Although I can't say I blame sister for falling for him. Even if it is against clan rules he is a very good kisser." Smirking Hanabi left her sister's room and went to tell her father Hiashi what had transpired.

* * *

Walking into the Hokage's office Naruto said, "Hey Baa-chan you got whatever I need for this exemption thingie ready?"

"Yes the paper work is all filled out. You can leave anytime. You don't even need to wear your hitai-ite unless you want to."

"Thanks. I'll see you and Ero-sennin in a few years. Look after everyone for me okay?"

"Sure thing gaki. Now get out of here and go get control of your new abilities."

'So where to from here Kyuubi-sama?'

**'Are you actually showing me respect?'**

'You know if you don't like it I can take it back.'

**'No, no a respect you is fine. Surprising but fine. Now since you are going to be a full demon shortly we're going to go train amongst full demons.'**

'Huh?'

**'We're going to the underworld for your training first kit.'**

'How?'

**'Feel around for the largest concentration of demonic energy you can find, and go towards it. It is most likely going to be a gateway to the underworld. I'll explain more once you find it. Don't wake me until then servant.'**


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own _Naruto_.

* * *

'You're sure that this is a gateway to hell?'

**'Yes, now go through it servant.'**

'Since when is a gateway to hell surrounded by flowers? Better question why a rabbits coming out of it?'

**'The flowers are a disguise and the rabbits are guards.'**

'Okay disguising it makes sense I guess, but why rabbits? Why not swarms of killer demonic bees that eat flesh and can kill with one sting?'

**'Rabbits have proven to be scarier and more vicious guards than any other creature that naturally exists on a universal plane with humans.'**

'Really?'

**'Yes, now go into the damned cave!'**

Walking towards the not so ominous cave surrounded by flowers with some rabbits hanging around the entrance Naruto stops after only a few steps. 'If the rabbits are guards then won't they attack me?'

**'Damn I was hoping you wouldn't catch on and I'd get to see you lose a fight to some rabbits. To get through just let your demonic energies flow freely. The guards have to allow any demonic being free passage into hell. Getting out however will almost always require a fight.'**

Removing the many seal covered articles of clothing he is wearing Naruto lets all the inhuman energy flowing through him surround himself in a massive cloud of energy. After storing the excess clothing in on of the many scrolls he carries for similar purposes Naruto then begins to walk towards what the Kyuubi claims is a gateway to hell clad only in his standard ninja attire. He however stops as the rabbits sense his presence and turn to stare at him. 'Is that normal?'

**'No clue half-demons usually try to avoid hell so I've never seen one try just walking through a gateway. Don't worry though. It's only once they break out their weapons or jump at you that you should worry.'**

'Gee thanks Kyuubi you're such a help.'

**'You're the servant I'm the demon lord, I don't have to help you at all so be grateful I'm doing this much. I could just have let you be run of Konoha and trained you while you run around in the wilds of the Shinobi Nations. Instead I'm being generous and letting you keep the illusion of being a human ninja, and showing you to hell where you can train your abilities to their fullest.'**

Conceding to the fox's point and deciding that he had pissed him off enough for now Naruto walked past the rabbits and into the cave without being harmed. Inside the cave however he encountered a problem in the form of a giant flaming cat blocking off the rest of the cave. "Umm hello Nibi."

**"Who are you? Oh it's Kyuubi's new servant! Why are you here?"**

"I'm going to hell to train myself at Kyuubi's request."

**'Let me have control for a moment I wish to speak with the nibi.'**

'Fine, but try to keep it short I don't want to be forced into fox form before I even get to hell.'

As Naruto turned of control of his body to the Kyuubi the only noticeable changes were the drastic increase in body temperature, and eyes changing color to blood red. **"Hello Nibi. Why are you playing guard at this gate?"**

**"I'm making sure no humans take it over and use it for their own purposes."**

**"How and why would humans do that?"**

**"I am unsure of the how, but it likely involves ninja. The why is easy, power. While we were sealed a human apparently took over at least one of the gates and has used it to create an army of controlled demons and resurrected humans."**

**"Must have been one of the gates for damned human souls. All the others lead into demon territories or wastelands. Oh well I doubt any human could control and demon worth the name. Why haven't you just send some of your subjects to guard the gate from the other side. It is functionally a bottle neck so it would be easier to defend against a human invasion from the hell side anyway."**

**"Well that's because I no longer have subjects."**

**"What you got overthrown while you were gone for a few centuries?"**

**"No, we all got overthrown."**

**"What! Who was foolish enough to take over my territory!"**

**"No idea, all I could find out about the situation is that there were three of them and they split up the bijuu lords territories between them. They apparently are either very powerful or the have found something to boost their power because when the others went to reclaim their territory the were destroyed."**

**"Since we left someone has become strong enough to defeat multiple bijuu lords while outnumbered? Impressive. Once my servant here is trained I shall have to speak with these upstarts. Would you care to join us for awhile Nibi? I'm sure we could work your restoration to power into our plans."**

**"No I'm must stay here to prevent whichever idiotic human is messing with the order of this plane from wrecking it further."**

**"Very well. Now if you could move aside so that my servant may pass."**

Regaining control of himself and seeing that the Nibi had stepped aside enough for him to get by Naruto thanked her before going into the gateway that formed the back wall of the cave.

* * *

On the other side of the gateway Naruto found himself on a platform raised high above the surroundings. Looking out at the surroundings he was a bit disappointed. 'It is a massive wasteland. Aren't there supposed to be demons roaming around?'

**'Not here. There aren't really compass directions here in hell, but maps are drawn with the punishment areas for damned human souls on the bottom and the most powerful demon's territory at the top. This wasteland is the border between what was Shukaku's territory and the human punishment areas. No demon come here unless they have to and even then it is usually just to pass through. There are of course exceptions. A few demons actually live out here, but mostly if you want to encounter a demon that could actually be considered such by one of your ninja you need to head towards the demonic north. Not that any of that matters to you right now since until you gain at least basic control over all you full demon abilities I'm not letting you leave these wastelands. After all here there is almost nothing to interfere with your training. There is no weather out here not caused by demons, the temperature never changes on its own, and it is almost completely unpopulated. Now go find somewhere to live while undergoing your training. Just keep in mind you will be a fox most of the time we are out here.'**

Thinking to himself Naruto considers the situation, 'Well this sucks. Better hurry before I lose my hands.' Rushing off into the near desert conditions surrounding him Naruto begins his search for a water source to set up camp by. After what seemed like hours of searching Naruto realized two important things. One, this was a useless method of searching. Two, the fox was laughing at him which meant he had missed something obvious. Thinking about the situation for awhile Naruto realized he could set up camp anywhere since he could just condense the air to get water if necessary and that he had food stored in his scrolls for quite awhile. Upon realizing this Naruto unsealed all the camping supplies he had that would be usable in fox form and he set the food scrolls down unrolled in his tent. 'Hey fox when will this transformation take place?'

**'Hmm? Oh that will happen right about… now.'**

Naruto collapsed as Kyuubi finished his sentence and began screaming, whether he was screaming in pain, fury, or what was uncertain. It was however very, very, loud and loaded with power. What few demons and other creatures heard him made sure to stay as far away from the powerful roar they heard. If they knew what they one causing it looked like they would have made sure to leave the wastes entirely. For almost as soon as it started it was over. Naruto had changed from a human like half-demon into a slightly larger than normal fox with silvery-white fur, blue eyes with an icy luster, and one tail. 'You could've given me a little more warning! That hurt damn it!'

**'True but it was quite amusing to me.'**

'Damned bastard fox demon lord can't even bother warning his servant that he will be suffering unimaginable amounts of pain. Why just because he finds he amusing. I'm going to skin him alive if I ever find a way to get him out of there.'

**'If you are quite done bitching about a little pain it is time for you to learn how to be a demon.'**

'That was a little pain?! I'm doing to kill you, you fucking fox bastard!'

**'Yes it was now shut up servant so your instruction, and more pain, can begin.'**

'I hate you.'

* * *

Naruto and managed the basics of moving and fighting in a fox body, and now Kyuubi was trying to teach him how to fight like a demon fox.

'**Gather pure energy in your tail, condense it into a ball at the tip, bring the ball to your mouth, eat it, add some more energy to it and make it unstable, then release it from your mouth at a target before it blows up.'**

Naruto followed the instructions perfectly until it came time to release the energy. As he opened his mouth to release it the energy became too unstable and the attack blew up just as it left his mouth.

**'You're supposed to release it before it blows up!'**

'I didn't do it on purpose!'

**'Try again!'

* * *

**

Fox-Naruto was running around and jumping through the air with a thin wall of ice floating in front of him when Kyuubi woke up from a nap to check on Naruto's progress. **'What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be trying to suppress your demonic energies.'**

'I am doing that. I'm just trying to create a new technique at the same time.'

**'If you were suppressing your power correctly you wouldn't be able to manipulate ice like that servant now get back to the exercises I told you to do.'**

'True but this technique will require me to maintain a constantly low and always equal amount of energy while in use. If I can do this technique all it would take to properly suppress my energy would be to take it to an even lower level than the technique uses.'

**'Fine you can continue, but if you don't have results from it in a few days you go back to my methods.'**

'Fine.'

* * *

Naruto was at his camp for his final bit of training in the wastelands.

**'Now suppress your power as far as you can. Separate it into your elemental energies, your pure demonic energy, and your raw energy. Bottle up at least half your elemental energy and all of your pure demonic energy. Mix the elemental energy leftover with your raw energy. Remember the feel of this energy this is the youki your human form will now use like chakra. Now let the youki flood your body, but don't let it mix with the contained energies. They'll need to stay locked away until you want to revert to demon form. Got it?'**

'Yeah, now here goes.' Following the demon lord's instructions Naruto managed to successfully return to human form. Unfortunately his ensuing joy caused him to release his contained energies and in a burst of power he changed back into a fox.

**'Looks like we'll be waiting until you can maintain human form before we start investigating who took over my lands.'**

'When can I return to the human world.'

**'When I'm done with my business here in hell.'**

'If it is longer than two years I'm going back to the human world either way, and you'll just have to finish your business in a few decades.'

**'That is agreeable servant.'**

'Cool now let's see if I can hold onto human form this time.'

* * *

Walking along the streets of the ruined city Naruto conversed with his tenant, boss, and instructor about the situation. 'So this used to be the main city of Shukaku's territory?'

**'Yeah, but really it was just a collection of bars and brothels with a castle in the center. The sad thing is this was the third most populated city in the demon territories. Only Nibi's capital and the Orochi's fortress were larger.'**

'What were they like?'

**'Nibi's capital was like a human one. It had residences, businesses, a castle, and a military base. Even though she was amongst the weakest of the bijuu she has held her position the longest aside from myself. This is because what she lacked in power she made up for by having the only truly trained demonic army in all of hell. The only other group that comes close to being a properly trained army of demonic soldiers would be the guards for the damned human souls, but they are so weak nobody really cares about them. The Orochi's fortress is a hellhole. It is only called a fortress because of all the traps and automated defenses built in. It is populated by Orochi, his guards, demon engineers who design and maintain the defenses, and demonic slaves who are forced to do all the menial jobs in the place. Orochi is quite possibly the most paranoid being in existence, and his fortress is proof of this.'**

'Wow. So should I go to Nibi's capital and see if I can dig up any information on the beings that overthrew you and your cohorts while you were all sealed away?'

**'No you need to become more skilled at fighting with your new abilities before we go investigating this mess. A group of minor demon lords ruled over a sort of neutral ground when I was here last. Go pick a fight with them. If you can win without calling on my power or my mark then we can go investigate.'**

'How strong are they?'

**'They used force to keep their territory neutral.'**

'Any suggestions for how to go about this?'

**'Kill them all and make sure they're dead before moving on to the next one.'**

'This is going to hurt.'

**'Of course.'

* * *

**

"Great as if it wasn't enough that I have to face a group of demons capable of holding off the bijuu, I have to break into a guarded castle to do it.'

Unable to find a way to sneak into the demons' castle Naruto decided the guards might be a good warm-up and shifted into full demon form to attack them. Rushing at the two guards by the door Naruto killed one easily by running it through with an ice-coated tail. The second one lived long enough to call for more guards before it was hit by several needles of ice in the face turning it's cry for help into a cry of pain. Naruto finished it off by ripping out it's throat with his claws. Before he could break into the castle he was surrounded by six more guards.

Instead of calling out for him to surrender like human guards would the demons attacked en masse with a variety of fireballs, lightening bolts, and swords. Naruto used his wind powers to send the two charging him with swords into the fireballs, and created a small shield of ice to block the lightening. Seeing their attacks fail the surviving demons moved in for hand-to-hand combat with their powers amplifying them.

Deciding his warm-up was over Naruto created a horizontal blade of wind which he used to cut his attackers in half. Shifting back into human-form he broke down the door and walked into the castle. He was greeted by a small green demon wielding a stick.

"Are you guest or intruder? "

"Intruder. Who are you?"

"Who am I? Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I don't know who you are. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm here to fight the rulers of this castle."

"Then aren't you a guest? Why do you not know of me? Why come challenge someone without knowing their identity?"

"So you are one of the rulers of this castle?"

"Am I one of this castle's lords? If I am would I be Johin? Will we fight?"

"Well if you aren't one of the demons that rule here prepare to fight anyway!"

As Naruto charged the diminutive demon he summoned Hie from a scroll to fight with. The demon in turn encased most of his stick in stone from the castle walls. The stone took the shape of a double-edged blade following the shape of the stick. Naruto's strike hit the stone blade but failed to accomplished anything except make the demon give him a fang filled grin. Naruto was then knocked across the chamber when the demon pushed back against Hie. Realizing that the demon was far superior to him in strength that meant he would need to either be faster than it or fight it at a distance if he wanted to win.

Seeing his adversary shift into the form of a kitsune Johin decided to start being serious. After all kitsune are naturally faster than humans and combining that with the boost in abilities that comes with being in one's true form this Naruto's speed might be enough to strike him before he could defend against it. And from what he had seen of the fight at the gate the boy could form wind blades that could pierce any armor he tried to use. He knew he needed to get in close with this kitsune and keep him from using his wind powers. When the fox started charging him he started trying to drop sections of the ceiling on it, but they were all dodged easily. As the fox closed to striking distance he tried to stab it with a quick thrust, but when his stone blade neared it's target the fox disappeared. Realizing what had happened Johin brought his sword down onto the ground instead of pulling it back into a guard position.

After putting on a burst of demonically enhanced speed to avoided the sword approaching his face and get behind his foe Naruto lunged forward to bite at the back of the demons neck. His efforts were thwarted when a pillar of rock erupted from the ground under him. Rolling off the pillar before it crashed into the ceiling Naruto used his control over ice to form a shield before him as well as using it to sharpen his fangs and claws. He then used his control over wind to launch himself Johin. The distance between them closed to fast for Johin to get out of the way, but he managed to bring his sword around for a strike. The ice shield shattered from the strike, but it managed to prevent the blade from killing Naruto. However it only did so by deflecting the blow downwards changing it from a head-cleaving blow to a chest splitting one. Naruto used his ice covered claws to take off Johin's arms and his fangs to rip out his throat. Johin collapsed to the ground as his stone blade broke apart into a stick and some rocks with his death. Naruto landed unsteadily on his feet with blood dripping from his jaws, blood soaking the fur of his paws, and his own blood leaking from a gash across his chest. He made it two steps to the next door before he collapsed from blood lose.

As Naruto lost consciousness as three hazy figures surrounded him and began talking, "What should we do with this one?"

"He is a threat. We need to kill him."

"He could be fun. We haven't had a real challenge since those new guys took over. They keep killing anyone who has potential or who is near them in power. We should fix him up and let him take on the rest of us."

"Yes he could be interesting, but if we need to patch him up after every fight against us it would take far too long and be boring."

"Then let's kill him now. Or we could have fun while killing him. Send him after those weaklings and see how they do against him."

"That idea has merit. However he seems rather inexperienced."

"We'll train him then we can all fight him. Then when we win we fix him up again and set him loose on them."

"That seems like a lot of effort into so little fun. Besides what if he wins after our training?"

"Well then let's just kill him now. Standing here talking is more boring then watching the weaklings fight amongst themselves."

"Very well." After that Naruto finally lost consciousness.


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own _Naruto_.

I do not own _Diablo_.

Warning this chapter contains torture and character death.

Technique translations are at the bottom of the page.

* * *

Two figures, one with Sharingan eyes and one that is more serpentine than human, can be seen kneeling before the bone throne in their base. Shadows obscure most of the room but the throne and whoever may be in it lie in a particularly dense patch of darkness.

A toneless voice issues from the hidden throne, "You had the kyuubi's vessel located yet instead of going to get him yourselves you sent two puppets that had already been defeated by him once. Tell me why I should continue to support you and I might let one of you leave here alive."

The snake-like one manages to make sounds approaching the sound of a human voice to respond. "It was important to find out whether his defeat of the Akatsuki was due to an accident, skill, or help. Based on his defeat of those two it is likely he used the power of the kyuubi to assist him in destroying Akatsuki. This effects how we will fight him when we confront him greatly."

"When will you capture him?"

"Well that is where a new problem shows up."

"What kind of a problem."

"We lost track of him. We can no longer even tell if he is dead or alive using our specialized jutsu. It is as if he is no longer in this world, yet still living."

"Very well it seems he is beyond your reach for now. Go back to your games of revenge, immortality, and world domination."

As the serpent-like figure gapes at the throne the other bows to the throne before dragging it out of the chamber.

"The fox must have taken him to hell to train as a demon now that he has his mark. This will either make things very easy or very hard. Hopefully those fools I had take over are capable of finding the vessel and bringing it to me before it can become a threat."

* * *

"So our little fox awakens at last."

Shaking his head Naruto tries to reply before realizing he is still in fox form. Shifting into human form Naruto questions the heavily bandaged figure before him. "Who are you, and how did you get me away from the three who ruled that castle?"

"I am Shosui as for how I got you away I didn't. I am one of said rulers so unless I threw you out the window or something I am unable to get you away from us."

"But didn't you guys decide to kill me?"

"Oh you heard our little conversation did you? No matter we changed our minds soon after that. Of course that is mainly because the kyuubi made its presence known. After that we decided to train you and then set you loose on those three weakling brothers that have been trying to take over hell. They've managed to take over the bijuu's lands simply because no one was around to defend against their claim to them. As for the other lesser territories they gained they took those by bluffing them under their control. After all if they took over the bijuu's lands they must be powerful right? Of course once the bijuu returned we figured we would get to watch them beat the hell out of the three, but it seems that between their extended imprisonment, infighting, and lack of support the bijuu were unable to reclaim their lands. This has just made things worse around here in our opinion since now the idiot trio has victories against the bijuu to back up their threats and bluffs."

"So who are these three?"

"Oh right you've been in the human world with the kyuubi. Well the three are brothers I think their names are Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal. I'm not sure however. Until they got the guts to move in here they were out past the human torture areas playing prison guard. Out there the most action a demon gets is some battles against armor that has been enchanted and given sentience by some idiot human mages and few eons ago. Now the damn things think they are angels and that their little corner of hell is actually a fortress made by heaven to hold off the demons of hell from conquering the human world and then heaven itself. The things are mere annoyances but they've been down here so long that the ambient energy of hell has made their enchaments permanent thus making them damn near invincible. Thus proving the angel theory in their opinion. Of course some joker going and given them all wings awhile back hasn't helped any."

"So basically the bijuu were overthrown by some uppity border guards that usual only see any action by fighting off near-indestructible suits of armor."

"Yeah that sounds about right."

Naruto immediately started laughing so hard he was unable to stand for a good twenty minutes. Once he regained control of himself he proceeded to question Shosui further. "Why haven't you guys gone and killed them if they are so weak?"

"Oh we tried, but they apparently have someone helping them since before we could finish them off they got a massive burst of power that they used to overwhelm us and force a retreat. Since then they have tried attacking us repeatedly, but we beat them back every time. The power surge only happens when the are badly wounded and their life is in danger. From our investigations into this problem we discovered that the power surged is actually them drawing on a system similar to humanity's eight celestial gates, but with the additional twist of a large amount of power being supplied by no less than three other sources. Two of the sources are the same for all three with one unique one each. One source is a demon with power equal to one of the greater bijuu. Another is drawn from the human souls trapped in the punishment areas, and the last is stolen from the human world's ambient energy."

"How am I supposed to kill them without activating that power boost?"

"Just use the kyuubi's mark. However we are going to train you at the kyuubi's request. Plus they might be resistant to the mark so having the skill and power to kill them will be useful too, and we want to fight you sometime as well."

"So what sort of training is this going to be?"

"The fun kind of course!"

Seeing the bloodthirsty gleam in Shosui's eyes Naruto suddenly remembered that their idea of fun was watching or participating in a fight to the death.

* * *

Tsunade stands amidst piles of corpses outside the Hokage tower. A wounded ANBU appears beside her before speaking and distracting her from her perusal of the corpses all bearing either Iwa, Mizu, Konoha, or Suna hitai-ite. "Tsunade-sama the remaining Iwa forces are retreating finally."

"It's about time the majority of Mizu's shinobi retreated two days ago. Any idea why they finally decided to retreat?"

"They retreated shortly after reaching the Hyuuga district."

"So the Hyuuga clan fought them off?"

"Unfortunately that does not appear to be the case Hokage-sama. When the medic-nins went in to look for wounded they found only two Hyuuga, and a lot of Konoha-nin dead from jyuuken strikes."

"Are you telling me that the Iwa shinobi cleared a path through the village to the Hyuuga district, met up with them and then the Hyuuga clan defected and fought out of the village as allies of the Iwa forces?"

"Yes I am Hokage-sama."

"Who were the two Hyuuga let behind, and what is their condition?"

"We identified them as Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata. Hyuuga Neji was found dead from a combination of severe brain damage consistent with that inflicted by the caged bird seal and multiple jyuuken strikes to the chest and head. It is believed he tried to fight off the other Hyuuga and defend Hinata while resisting the caged bird seal. Hyuuga Hinata was however worse off. Her remains showed signs of having been tortured for months, her eyes had been removed, all the bones in her arms and legs broken until they were less than splinters, most of her musculature was removed, her chakra coils were destroyed from what is believed to be repeated high power juuken strikes, and it was discovered her cause of death was due to an extremely powerful jyuuken strike to her forehead which scrambled her brain and sent fragments of her skull throughout the room she had been kept in."

"Find out why the Hyuuga had been torturing Hinata for so long, how nobody noticed, and why they took her eyes. Then have both Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji listed on the memorial stone along with all our other dead from today. Also have someone sent to Suna with their surviving shinobi to offer our thanks for their assistance. Finally have someone find Shizune and have her report to the hospital, I'm going to need her help there soon."

As the ANBU ran off to carry out her orders Tsunade made her way to the hospital, not looking at the corpses along the way for fear of seeing the face of someone she had grown to care for since Naruto dragged her back to this village.

* * *

**'Servant the year you gave me to solve this mess is almost up. Challenge them to a three-on-one match and I will dictate our course based on how you do.'**

'It's about time I got to fight them seriously.' Marching into the viewing chamber that his hosts spent their time in watching conflicts throughout hell, and even occasionally in the human world Naruto called out his challenge. Unfortunately his hosts had come to a similar conclusion as the fox did and before he could complete a word Naruto was sent flying through the castle walls to the outside. Quickly deciding that he would need all the power he could in this fight Naruto shifted into his fox form and before he could hit the ground he made a platform of ice suspended in the air with his power over wind. Pushing off the platform and letting in return to water molecules in the air he tried to strike out at a large menacing frog demon he had learned was named Gamanise. Before the surprise attack could land however Naruto was sent to the ground by Shosui. As he fell Naruto gathered energy in his tail. Once he hit the ground he stood up and jumped clear of the two attacking him while forming the energy into a ball at the tip of his tail and watching out for his third host. Seeing a figure appear at the hole in the castle wall Naruto swallowed his energy ball before sending it at the hole. The resulting blast took out most of the remaining wall and his two opponents gaped in shock.

From behind Naruto however his third host spoke, "My, my Naruto you tricky little kitsune when did you learned that old trick of kyuubi's?"

"Before I even came here."

"Really that is interesting, what other tricks have you been hiding from us I wonder?"

"Not much just these ones." Changing into human form Naruto molded the youki at his disposal using handsigns as if it were chakra. First he used **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** to create almost fifty clones. Then using a modification of **Henge no Jutsu** similar to his **Oiroke no Jutsu** he had them change into about a dozen of everyone present. Finally he preformed the **Kirigakure no Jutsu** to further confuse his enemies.

"Ninja tricks? Interesting, but they won't help you against us."

"Naruto responded by having the clones that still looked like him attack the three and split them up then had the other clones disperse throughout the fog. He had the disguised clones either detonate themselves or attack whenever they spotted one of his enemies. Fortunately over the years he had gotten good enough that clones could tell who was a clone and who wasn't. He had a few clones of everybody stay out of the fight however.

Getting fed up with the little game of tag that he was forced into with the clones Gamanise called up his powers of fire to form a fireball in each of his hands. Giving out a roar that was distinctly un-frog-like he slammed the fireballs together causing them to explode outwards in a wave of fire the burned away the fog and the clones, but left all the demons present only slightly scorched. "Ha! What now ninja boy?"

"What now? Well since this is a fight to the death that is an easy one. **Fuuton : Rasenshuriken!**" Forming a massive swirling storm of youki in both hands he raised it above his head where winds sprung up and seemed to swirl around it dragging some of the energy out of it into a vaguely shuriken like shape. Whereas when he was human he would now charge his foes almost blindly hoping to hit with his new demonic power over wind he could throw the attack like a real shuriken and using youki filled winds guide it to its target while maintaining its form with the youki fueling the winds. Which is precisely what he did.

Not knowing what this orb would do if it hit them the three demon lords jumped away from it just before it impacted the ground near them. They couldn't get completely away from it before its fury was unleashed however. Shosui was the closest to it when it released the thousands of wind blades it had contained, and he lost an arm to them. Gamanise was farther out and only lost a couple toes. Their leader was the farthest out and only lost some of his hair from the attack. Shosui decided to step out of the fight since he would no longer be able to keep up with their level having one arm. Gamanise merely concentrated some of his power in the wounded foot and his toes rapidly grew back. The leader seemed most effected however, and she glared at Naruto with a shocking amount of fury for someone with injuries that couldn't even be considered minor.

**'You're doomed kit. She is almost obsessive when it comes to her hair. The bandaged one probably ducked out of the fight just so he wouldn't get between her attacks and you. The frog is probably only still here to watch her rip you apart. Effectively it is now a one-on-one fight, but you're actually more likely to be killed now than before.'**

'You're so encouraging Kyuubi. I can almost hear the sorrow you feel at my predicament through the joy you feel at it.'

**'Look at the bright side. I wouldn't be this happy if I actually thought you might die, only if you were going to suffer immense pain.'**

'I really hate you.' Blocking out the near hysterical laughter now filling his head Naruto turned his attention back to the pissed off demon women before him. Realizing his best chance to not die was likely running very fast and not trying to fight her off he went into kitsune form and used all his power and wind control to go as fast as he could away from her. He had only run a little ways before he ran into what felt like a mountain. Getting back up a looking at what he hit he realized it was a mountain. What was more surprising was the fact that it was surrounding him in every direction except the one that led back to his host. 'Kyuubi she wouldn't happen to have control of earth would she?'

**'Yeah she has earth for a primary elemental affinity with fire secondary. The real bad news for you is they can be combined into metal, and she is very good at shaping custom weapons to fit circumstances and then using them in very effective ways.'**

Naruto decided that if nothing else could knock himself out before she got to him so he put all but the minimum amount of energy he needed to live into his tail and formed it into a ball at the tip as he watched her come into view and walk towards him. Bringing the energy to his mouth and eating it he prepared to fire this massive blast at her. As she approached him metal rose out of the ground around her and gathered by her hand into some sort of weapon. Backing against the mountain behind him Naruto used it to brace himself for the explosion this would cause before he unleashed it at the demon approaching him. She didn't even blink as it came at her and merely kept walking towards Naruto as the metal resolved itself into a very cruel looking knife. When the energy hit her it exploded with such force that the mountains she had raised were reduced to rubble and scattered farther than any eye could see. As she continued to approach through the blasted landscape Naruto had made her appearance seemed completely unchanged except for the fact that her skin was silvery instead of its usual red. Before she could get close enough to strike out at him Naruto realized that he wasn't as tried as he had expected to be. Feeling out his energy reserves he discovered that the fox had completely filled his reserves with its own power. Deciding he would go out fighting if nothing else he gathered Kyuubi's energy into a vaguely cone-like shape around his own kitsune body with the tip of the cone pointing at his foe. As soon as the energy took shape he leapt at her claws extended with speed beyond anything he had managed up to that point. She disdainfully stabbed the knife into his shoulders as he hit her. When the mass of energy he had surrounded himself with hit and shattered her armor however she showed a bit of shock on her face. When the Kyuubi empowered claws on his working foreleg cut her across the shoulder deep enough to reveal bone however she looked at his finally exhausted form lying on the ground behind her with a small amount of respect.

That small amount of respect didn't however prevent her from twisting the knife embedded into his shouldered a little before pulling it out and letting it break down into what it once was. Or from dragging him back to the castle by his tail. It was however likely responsible for her knocking Gamanise unconscious when he asked when they were going to kill Naruto.

* * *

Naruto left the castle in human form as soon as he woke up. Even though his shoulder wouldn't fully heal for a couple more days he couldn't afford to waste time recovering if he was to complete the kyuubi's task before he left for the human world once more. He found little of interest as he made his way toward where he had been told the three brothers ruled from. It was unsurprisingly the kyuubi old hellhole. At least that is what Naruto thought it was. Kyuubi just referred to it as the only territory with a population of one. It seems he didn't get along well with anyone. Marching across the ruined land that once may have been a forest of some kind Naruto pushed on towards the only marginally livable place in this corner of hell. Upon his entrance Naruto was treated to the funniest sight he had ever seen. A trio of demons that he assumed where the brothers stood in the center of the kyuubi's den arguing over would should sit on the massive throne that kyuubi must've have used for when he wanted to be particularly intimidating to visitors before killing them.

"I should be one the throne I'm the oldest!"

"I should be on the throne since I'm the strongest!"

"I should be on the throne since I am the only one with a brain."

"Take that back!"

"No."

"Take it back Mephisto or I shall let our little brother make you take it back."

"Fine then make me!"

"My pleasure! Now die Mephisto!"

Deciding to intervene before he injured himself laughing Naruto said, "None of you are going to sit on the throne. After all you're are all going to die right now. Suffer the Kyuubi's wrath usurpers." Raising the hand with Kyuubi's mark upon it into the air Naruto tried to activate it to no avail. "Well that didn't work like I was hoping. Guess I get to do this the fun way." 'Why didn't your mark work fox!'

"Looks like he's one of the bijuu's servants the mark says it is one from Kyuubi this time. He might be a decent challenge then."

**'You consciously held back some of your energy from the mark, now that it is under your control you have to feed all of your energy into it yourself. Of course if you do that you'll shift into kitsune form and you don't have my mark in that form so it is essentially useless to you now except as a sign of authority amongst those who respect me.'**

'You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?! It was kind of important!'

"Hey fox servant, are you listening to us?"

"No. Should I be?" 'We are going to have a talk about what kind of things you should really tell me ahead of time after I kill these guys.'

"Diablo kill this pathetic creature for us would you."

"Sure I'm always up for ripping someone apart."

Seeing the lightening crackling across Diablo's skin Naruto decided to make sure not to touch him. Watching flames begin to flicker in the Diablo's palms as lightening built up on his hands Naruto began preparing a defense for Diablo's attack. When he released a stream of fire from both hands that had electricity mixed in with the flames Naruto decided the defense he had prepared might not be enough so in addition to creating a wall of ice out of water from an underground spring he called up his elemental powers to the surface causing a mini tornado filled with shards of ice to form around him as a layer of ice began to cover his body everywhere except on his face and joints. The heat of the flames melted his ice wall before the attack even hit it, but they were caught up in the tornado surrounding him. The lightening however hit him and was amplified by the same ice armor that protected him from the intense heat of the fire swirling around him. Naruto adjusted conditions in the den so that when he released the tornado the flames caught in it would spread throughout the area outward from him. As the electricity stopped running across his own body he withdrew his elemental abilities into himself thus releasing his ice armor and tornado barrier. Diablo was unaffected as his own flames washed over him, Mephisto was only slightly effected since while he too had fire affinity he was weaker than Diablo, Baal however was badly burned by the flames since his affinities were earth and lightening.

"Diablo stop screwing around and kill him! Mephisto get in there and help our inept little brother!"

"Two on one won't help you it just gives me more targets. **Hyouton : Mansatsu Suishou!**" Forming some handseals and calling on his powers to a greater level than usually necessary Naruto turned all the water available that was part of his body into a spike of ice about three feet long. When this cloud of spikes formed in the air around Diablo and Mephisto they barely had time to scream before they were skewered. Naruto had formed so many that even after they were dead spikes of ice still were impacting against the ice already stuck in them. Their bodies didn't even fall to the ground they simply fell apart into a pile of ooze once Naruto released the jutsu.

Baal gave out a scream of rage as he received a massive power boost and split himself in two. From each half a full Baal regenerated with both of half the power from the power boost. One created whips of rock that formed out of the ground around Naruto and tried to break his bones and restrain him. The other Baal shot orbs of lightening the Naruto was barely able to dodge until he turned into his kitsune form.

Evading the whips popping out of the ground around him Naruto rushed at the Baal shooting the lightening orbs. As he approached his target he flooded his body with demonic power causing him to glow with a strangely frightening icy-blue light. When he leaped into the air and did a flip before landing the Baals wondered what he had done. When the one he stood before split in half vertically the survivor knew what had happened and quickly reabsorbed the dead one's power to try and protect himself. It was a futile gesture for when Naruto felt his victim's power increase he drew on the kyuubi's demonic energies to boost his own power as well. The only sign Baal had of this was the glow around Naruto growing and shifting from icy-blue to purple and finally to a blazingly blood-red. When the glow grew more solid into the distinct outline of a five tailed kitsune Baal realized he was doomed. Alone none of the brothers could have taken even the sanbi if it was at full strength and before him was the kyuubi and the only reason he still lived was that it had been playing with them. As Naruto stalked towards Baal his vulpine mouth twisted into a bloodthirsty grin and his eyes and fur darkened to blood-red. When he reached the cowering Baal he spoke in a voice which couldn't possibly be issuing from such a small creature, **"For your crimes against the bijuu lords in general and the great and mighty Kyuubi-no-Kitsune in particular you will die. First however you will tell me who aided you, and if you tell the truth I might give you a quick, painless death."**

"I c-can't tell you that. If I did I would suffer a fate worse then death!"

**"Pity, because dying a slow painful death at my hands is the only fate truly worse than death. Now suffer!"** With that Kyuubi-Naruto began peeling off Baal's flesh a strip at a time. **"You know if you didn't disgust me so much I might be tempted to make you into jerky for my trip back to the human world."** Listening to the agonized screams coming from his victim he began removing the now exposed bones. **"I wonder if I can sell these to anyone. What was that whimper? You want to keep your bones? Very well I'll just stick them back in you, but since I can't remember where they go I'll just guess." **Sticking a few of the removed bones into Baal's stomach Kyuubi-Naruto just grins wider at his victims whimpers. **"It has been far too long since I got to have fun like this. It isn't nearly as entertaining to torture a human. They are so frail and die before you can get to the fun stuff. Now what to do next. Oh I know let's see how your organs react to being frozen from the inside out."** As he proceeded to do just that using Naruto's abilities Kyuubi-Naruto laughed at the expressions crossing the face of the demon before him. However he got to carried away with freezing organs and froze Baal's heart, finally killing him. **"Oh well it was fun while it lasted. Now why was I torturing him again? I don't think it was just for fun. Oh crap I forgot to find I who helped him before I killed him. Damn guess I'll just have to wait until they reveal themselves." **As Naruto returned to his usual kitsune appearance the kyuubi's influence on his thoughts faded as well. Becoming ill at the realization of what he had put Baal trough before killing him, Naruto fled the kyuubi's den and rushed off to the gate back to the human world trying to forget his torture he had put another creature through.

* * *

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Henge no Jutsu - Transformation Technique

Oiroke no Jutsu - Sexy Technique

Kirigakure no Jutsu - Hidden Mist Technique

Fuuton : Rasen Shuriken - Wind Element : Spiral Shuriken

Hyouton : Mansatsu Suishou - Ice Element : Death by Ten Thousand Flying Water Needles


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own _Naruto_.

Techniques are translated at the bottom of the page.

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**'You might want to rest up and recover your strength before trying to leave here Naruto.'**

'Shut up fox. From now on I'm in charge of things, and you just get to give advice, advice that I will have verified by at least three others no more than one of which is a demon.'

**'That hurts kit it really does. What did I ever do to deserve such malice from you, well aside from the obvious ones of nearly destroying your village, taking away your family, ruining any chance you had for a normal life, and making most of your own village hate you for most of your life. I haven't done anything lately to piss you off. Hell you've been fine with following my orders up until now. Anyways this one is really for your own safety more then anything else since you will have to fight your way out of hell.'**

'What have you done to piss me off recently? How about making me torture that demon a few weeks ago for absolutely no reason! And just why would I have to fight to get out of hell? I'm not dead, I don't belong here.'

**'You're still bitching about that little bit of fun we had? Listen up servant and listen well because I'm not going to say this again, and if you tell anyone I said this I will break out of this seal and make sure to kill you as painfully as I can before we both die. That pathetic loser we tortured back there was a demon. He has been doing similar things to what we did to him to other demons, damned souls, and lost humans for centuries or maybe even longer. He was a stain upon demonkind and had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Amongst humans and demons he would be reviled and hated for things he did while alive. Admittedly humans and demons would be upset over different things, but still it's the fact that both would hate him that is important. Killing him was doing the universe a favor, making it painful was giving out a small measure of justice, and doing it was fun. You're more alarmed at the fact that even now you know that if you did it again it would still be fun even without my influence. Something you need to realize and soon is that you are not human anymore. The transformation into a full demon has fundamentally altered some of your thought processes, in particular the ones dictating morality, memory management, mating behavior, mental limiters, motor function, senses, and spatial-temporal location tracking. What this means is that things that used to disgust you may now seem enjoyable to you and vice-versa, it will be easier to recall things from a long time ago, your idea of what a good partner is and your ability to notice other females while you have a mate is altered. Of course you probably didn't get that either so I'll use small words this time. What you find attractive in a women may be different and while you are actually with a women you probably won't even consider other women as potential partners until you make a decision at some mental level that you are not with a women in any kind of relationship aside from familial, and by familial I mean as a grandmother, mother, sister, daughter, etcetera. The bit about mental limiters is basically that you no longer have any. Since demons can eventually become beings of pure energy when we become powerful enough we need to always have conscious control over our energy and thus we have nothing like the humans' eight gates. Motor function is the fact that you can easily switch between humanoid and vulpine bodies without disorientation, senses is just that you can actually interpret all the things your far above human senses are telling you, and the last bit is a rather useful one I've found. You see since demons can essentially live forever we have created numerous ways to travel in space and time. We can do this and still return to the world, dimension, universe, and time we belong in because of a mental faculty present in all but the weakest of demons. Something which allows us to know when and where we should be and when and where we are according to that location. However you likely won't get much use out of that for awhile yet since even if you get bored with the shinobi nations and what few other human empires exist in the human world you were born in you still would have all of this hell to explore.'**

'That was a great speech and all, but you forgot to tell me why I have to fight my way out of hell!'

**'Oh that is an easy one my idiot servant boy. You are a demon. Thus you belong in hell. You are not a high level demon lord thus you have no reason to go to human except for pretty trouble and mischief. Therefore you cannot be allowed out of hell. This rules are not common to all hells or even all exits from this hell, but these rules do affect the gate you will use so you must obey them. Well actually you don't have to obey them but demonic gateways tend to be rather heavy handed in the enforcement of their rules.'**

'Oh. So what will I have to fight?'

**'Well each gate is different and it has been awhile since a gate's defenses have challenged me, but if I recall correctly this one forces a demon to fight a doppelganger of sorts. There are various types of doppelgangers that can be made, but the gate only makes the best. The gate's doppelgangers are made by the gate reading the souls of those who try to pass through. If they belong in hell according to the gate's rules then the gate will take the imprint of the soul it made and reflect it back towards the person whose soul it was an imprint of. The gate gives this reversed soul a body and links it to the original's soul. This allows the doppelganger to exist until it is either killed by a decisive blow that is immediately fatal or until the original is dead. As the doppelganger is wounded it will draw energy from the original to heal its wounds at an incredible rate. Due to it being the opposite of the original soul the doppelganger knows everything the original does and how to use it, but it is completely different in the application of this knowledge and abilities. If the original is a great heroic champion then the doppelganger will be an evil overlord. If the original is pretty neutral in most matters the doppelganger will be too, but it will hate those that the original cares for and want to kill them thus bringing them into conflict anyway. If the original is pure evil, as most demons are, then the doppelganger will be a virtuous hero that will do its utmost to defeat the original.'**

'Could you explain it using terms I know?'

**'Fine. Think of it like this, you create a new and improved shadow clone that is able to take just as much punishment as you can before dieing, but when you first test it out you discover a problem. The clone thinks it's the original and you're an imposter trying to infiltrate Konoha. You have no way of proving you're the real Naruto and that it is a clone so you have no choice but to fight it and destroy it. However you made the jutsu too well and it is just as skilled and strong as you, hell it can even tap into my power. That is like what fighting a doppelganger you will be like. So rest up and be prepared to kick your own ass tomorrow.'**

* * *

"Didn't you say it would make a duplicate of me?"

**"Hey I wasn't expecting this either. The gate has never scanned a former jinchuuriki before so I had no idea had it would react to my presence."**

"Well we've answered that question. Now how the hell am I supposed to leave here with you playing watch dog for the gate?"

**"Easy, I let you pass."**

"Won't the gate force you to stop me?"

**"No, I am to powerful for it to manipulate. Especially since it is the real me in this body it made and not a reflection of me it made. Besides even if I am outside of you I can still feel the Shiki Fuuin binding me to you. I can't attack you even if the gate put its full power into making me do it and I wanted to."**

"So what? Are you mostly free now or something?"

**"No this is only temporary, the gate will destroy this body once you either go through or you leave its vicinity. At that point I'll get dragged back into the seal. The gate will also destroy the body if I try going to far from it or through it."**

"Shouldn't you be able to overpower the gate and make the body your own?"

**"Kit I may be the most powerful demon lord on this or most other plains of reality, but even I can't eternally maintain a portal through dimensional boundaries and have enough energy to duplicate a soul, twist it to my will, and stuff it into a body anytime someone approaches me."**

"So the gate has ridiculous amounts of power even compared to you?"

**"No only about double maybe triple what I have, but still I can't win in a contest of pure power between us."**

"Oh well at least I can leave with no injuries."

**"Yeah right until all my power slams back into you when you come out on the other side of the gate."  
**

"Oh crap."

**"Have fun kit."** Giving an evil smirk, which looked truly frightening since vulpine faces were not made to be twisted into such an expression, the kyuubi pushed Naruto through the gate into his own world. As Naruto went through the gate the kyuubi's form burst apart as it was released from the gates power. On the other side of the gate Naruto was just stepping out of the gate when a wave of red energy slammed into him and carried him right into the nibi who still stood guard over the gate.

"Oh fuck the fox-teme was right about that hurting. I'm going to feel that for the rest of the day."

**"I see Kyuubi-sama's vessel has returned, but was it really necessary for you to jump onto me to get my attention?"**

"That was kind of an accident. Anyway the idiots that took over while you were away have been dealt with so have fun ruling over hell with whatever bijuu still live."

**"Good. You should know that your humans have been very busy while you were gone. Do not expect things to be as they were when you left."**

Watching the nibi strut through the gate in a purely feline manner Naruto wondered if the changes Nibi had mentioned were bad or good. Deciding the best way to find out was to go back to Konoha he took out the excessive clothing he has to suppress his demon energies and puts them on so as to not scare anyone he might encounter with his loosely controlled power.

* * *

Arriving at the Konoha's main gate, due only to the fact that it pointed mostly towards the interior of fire country, Naruto showed the guards his hitai-ite and travel pass. The guards didn't let him in, but they did send someone to get the Hokage. While waiting for Tsunade to arrive Naruto listened in on some of the conversations amongst the merchants around him.

"That siege on wind country has been going on for far too long."

"I still don't see why Hokage-sama hasn't just sent some ninja to destroy the blockades between Wind and River at the least. I mean we are allied with them aren't we?"

"Yeah we are, but ever since that mess with the Hyuuga clan and Iwa happened we haven't had the forces to do anything but keep the enemy out of Fire Country. We couldn't even afford to send some ninja to Waterfall when Grass overran them."

"Throw in the loss of some of our best shinobi in an attempt to prevent the return of Otogakure with Suna's current situation, and Fire Country's fate in this war seems sealed."

"Yeah but its not like we can betray them, even if we tried to leave to another country we would be killed on sight for being citizens of Fire Country. The only country we could live in is Snow, but to get there we would have to cut through enemy territory."

"You might make it, after all it was only a month or so ago that two ANBU squads were sent there to help them while they rebuild their ninja forces."

"True, but didn't only one or two of those ANBU actually make it?"

Naruto was unable to listen further since at that point the Hokage showed up. "Took you long enough to get here Tsunade-baachan."

"It's about time you returned Naruto. Any later there might not have been a Konoha for you to return to. I'll fill you in on the current situation back in my office, try not to be seen on your way through the village."

"Why?"

"Because these days anyone could be an enemy spy, and I don't want anyone finding out about your return until you've been of some use in this war."

**'War? Wars are fun. Lots of destruction and bloodshed. Try to get her to put you on the front lines. I suggest starting with asking her to let you break the blockade on Wind Country with your own discretion on how to do it.'**

'I suppose you want my discretion to be when Iwagakure has been burned to the ground?'

**'Of course not. You can't start a fire to save you life anymore so I was thinking more along the lines of when Iwagakure was a frozen bloodstain upon the surface of the earth.'**

'Please stop sending me images of what you want it to look like when I'm done. It is preventing me from imagining what I could do to them.'

**'Wow, I didn't know you had it in you Naruto. That kind of thing looks more like one of my rampages then your usual work.'**

'I heard something pertaining to Hyuuga and Iwa. That is all I need to hear to justify wiping Iwa out in the most painful ways possible.'

**'Not that I'm against destruction, or plotting it, however we're at the Hokage's office so it might be a good idea to stop making Gaara at his old worst look like a teddy bear.'**

Breaking out of his bloodlust induced haze Naruto walks into the Hokage's office. When Tsunade puts some chakra into a seal on her desk that causes identical sesls to cover the walls, door, ceiling, and floor Naruto knows this is a real serious matter. When he realizes that the usual ANBU guard around her is absent he wonders who killed one of his friends and how many pieces she was going to let him rip them into.

"Naruto while you were away the situation with Iwa and Mizu has gone downhill rapidly. We are currently at war with Earth, Water, Lightening, and Rice Field Countries. Those are the only Countries to actually declare war on Fire Country along with the hidden villages declaring war on Konoha. Wind Country itself is technically neutral, but Suna is allied with it so Wind might as well be with us too. Suna is the only ally we have capable of holding its own against those four alongside us. They are also the only ally we could keep in reliable contact with until recently. We know that Sunagakure itself fell almost six months ago, but Earth Country and some of it's allies still have blockades around Wind Country. We believe that a substantial portion of Suna's shinobi escaped the village before it fell and are now roaming Wind Country keeping anyone from taking over completely. We don't know which ninja or how many escaped, but we can be fairly certain that the Kazekage and his siblings are amongst them. This is based off intercepted reports sent from Iwa ninja in Wind Country to those making up the blockades. We also believe that Mizu and Kumo have spent most of their ninja in blockading off Fire Country. We can't be certain of this because they make sure to stay deep enough into their own territory we can't afford to look for them. Oto is the only one of our enemies making regular attacks, but then again troops don't matter to them. Most of the forces Oto sends against us are made up of ninja's ressurected from the dead and controlled by a seal similar to Orochimaru's curse seal."

"Okay now that you've told me about the village tell me about my friends."

"Well most of them are either Jounin and ANBU on the front lines dealing with Oto's attacks. A couple are Chuunin instructors at the academy which was expanded recently. Kakashi, Tenzo, and Jiraiya are out of the country on long term S-class missions. Kakashi and Tenzo are in Snow Country, and Jiraiya is in Wind Country trying to meet up with the surviving Suna shinobi. Hinata and Neji were victims of the Hyuuga clan's defection to Iwagakure."

"What do you mean by victims of the Hyuuga clan's defection."

"I mean that the Hyuuga clan defected to Iwagakure and Hinata and Neji apparently tried to stop them, warn me, or something. All we know for sure is they were both found dead and near each other in the Hyuuga complex."

"Who killed them."

"That could not be determined from their surroundings or their remains. However it was most likely one of the more powerful Hyuuga clan members based on the damage to their organs and chakra coils."

"I would like to put forward a suggestion that I be allowed to break the blockade on Wind Country using my own discretion as to what methods to use and as to when it is broken."

"Since your clothes are starting to freeze solid, and you're putting out enough killing intent to paralyze most jounin I'll let you do it, but don't think for a second it's for any reason other than that I would rather you get pissed off and kill our enemies than see what happens if I try keeping you cooped up in the village. After all if I sent you anywhere else you would just disobey orders and go do what you want anyways."

"Thank you. I will return once the blockade on Wind Country is broken."

"Try not to lose control completely while you are tearing apart Iwa's ninja. Also make sure any Hyuuga you encounter are killed."

**"I won't lose control, and I was going to kill all the Hyuuga anyway."

* * *

**

Pulling his cloak around him a little tighter Kakashi stops in the snow covered forest he is passing through to look in the direction of Konoha. 'Hmm I can feel a faint trace of kyuubi's chakra. Naruto must've returned and found out about Hinata. Guess Iwa won't be a problem for much longer.'

Appearing beside Kakashi Tenzo remarks, "Hopefully Hokage-sama had him go direct that rage at Iwa."

"I don't doubt she did, although I wonder if anyone was stupid enough to call him a demon as he made his way out of the village to destroy Iwagakure."

"Come on we still have to finish patrolling the borders then it is off to train some children in how to be a ninja."

"Hmm, I suppose, but then again this is a far better reason to be late then my usual ones."

* * *

'That is a lot of demonic energy. I wonder how much is Kyuubi's and how much is Naruto's. Oh crap he's coming this way. Why the hell did I have to choose today to look for Gaara by the blockades.' As Jiraiya ran off into the depths of Wind Country hoping to get far enough away from the Iwa-nin that he might escape serious injury from whatever Naruto was going to do to them.

Gaara and his siblings finished off the Iwa-nin they were ambushed by and felt Naruto's approach. Looking at his injured siblings and at his own battered state Gaara decided that he should go meet up with his ninja before going to see if Naruto wanted help in leveling Iwa. Seeing Gaara walk off into the sandstorm Temari had caused during the battle instead of approching what they hoped was only a very angry Naruto and not a freed Kyuubi, Kankuro and Temari went into the sandstorm after him.

* * *

Shiki Fuuin - Corpse Spirit Seal 


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own _Naruto_ it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Technique names are translated at the bottom.

* * *

"Hello, Naruto-sensei!"

"Hakaiteki? Nobori? Imei? What are you three doing here?"

"We were assigned patrols duties on the border, when we felt you rush out of the country we decided to tag along and make sure you didn't get in over your head."

"You were just getting as bored of patrol as I was Nobori."

"That too."

"You two have no one to blame for your boardom but yourselves. After all if you two didn't leave such distinctive evidence of your battles the enemy would never have known to be afraid of us. After all without our reputation we would be getting attacked just as much as the other patrols."

"And just what have you three been up to that you can secure the border on your reputation alone?"

"Just the usual."

"Hakaiteki now has created a jutsu which converts chakra into thermal energy. Nobori's skill with his blade is as infamous as Hokage-sama's strength."

"What about you Imei?"

"I'm only listed in the Bingo Book as a footnote in their entries. Specifically it says, _"A young women is regularly seen alongside them. She is believed to be either an apprentice to one of them or a medic-nin tasked with keeping them in the field as long as possible. Threat level is minimal as she likely spends most of her chakra healing their wounds."_ It is quite humorous actually since I have more confirmed kills then either of them."

"That's only because I don't leave enough pieces of my enemies for an accurate count to be taken."

"My strikes are unfortunately easy to dodge. Most of my kills are from unskilled opponents and those who try to block my strikes."

"Well sounds like you three can be useful on this mission. Tsunade assigned me with the mission to break the blockade on Wind Country. I have complete authority on how to do so, how long the mission will last, and when the mission is accomplished."

"I think if we are going to break the blockade we need to first need to aid the Suna ninja in clearing Wind Country of enemy presence. Then we will need to take the fight to Earth country to discourage them simply sending more troops in to enforce the blockade."

"We should just level Iwagakure."

"I'm so glad you three listened to what few lessons I managed to teach. Now off to make sure Gaara still has ninja under his command to have assist us."

* * *

In a snowy forest a group of ninja without hitai-ite face off against a ninja from Konoha with mismatched eyes. As the ninja from an unknown village begin attacking with jutsu and kunai the konoha-nin closes his right eye and gazes at his foes with his scarred, baleful, red, left eye. As the various ninja complete their jutsu and the kunai rapidly approach their target the man places his hands in a seal and duplicates of him spread out to each side with incredible speed. The now five Konoha-nin each pick an enemy and begin their attack while dodging the incoming jutsu and kunai. One of the Konoha-nin grabs a kunai by the ring on its end and redirects it at the enemy ninja he is rushing towards. The enemy ninja deflects it with another of his kunai, but while doing so he takes his eyes off his attacker. He quickly realizes his mistake but it is tolate to save him as his neck is broken from behind.

Another of the Konoha-nin nimbly dodges between incoming jutsu to close in on his target. As he reaches striking distance the enemy ninja launches a barrage of shuriken to attempt to force a retreat. The Konoha-nin smirks as the projectiles pass through him harmlessly before he vanishes. "They're just clones! Find the real one!" As the ninja calls out his warning to his allies the real Konoha-nin comes up behind him and quickly jams a kunai into the back of his head. Dodging an unidentified fire jutsu the Konoha-nin looks over his remaining foes. He sees two still trying to get a solid hit on his clones so they can see if they are real or fakes, and he sees another one going through handsigns at a fairly decent speed. Recognizing the jutsu as a C-rank fire jutsu the Konoha-nin decides to deal with this one with just taijutsu as well. He jumps clear of the incoming flames and then moves with such speed he seems to disappear. The enemy ninja seems to be able to keep up with him just barely as he quickly jumps back to avoid some shuriken and then turns to his right a throws a rather sloppy punch which is caught by the Konoha-nin. Before the enemy ninja has a chance to free his hand the sound a bones breaking can be heard as the Konoha-nin closes his fist. As he is crushing his enemies hand the man pulls the broken hand towards him and smashes his knee into the nemies chest. Releasing his grip on the broken hand he steps to one side as the enemy ninja falls to the ground, but as the enemy falls the Konoha-nin slams his fist into his enemies neck and a barely audible cracking sound can be heard alongside the sound of flesh impacting flesh.

During the few seconds since the start of the fight the two remaining enemy ninja managed to discover they were fighting clones and can up with a plan while watching the man with one red eye defeat a third member of their unit. Seeing one of his remaining enemies charging straight at him while the other stays back with his hands edging towards his weapon pouches the red-eyed man quickly pulls out a kunai and a piece of paper with strange writing on it. The man quickly wraps the paper around the kunai's handle baeefore lazily throwing it into the snow a few feet in front of his charging enemy. The charging one puts on an impressive burst of speed and just as he makes it past the point where the weapon buried itself into the snow before a small explosion occurs at that same location. The blast makes the charging enemy stumble off balance a bit, and throws up so much snow that the one standing back can't see what is going on. The man closes the distance between him and his nearest enemy in two quick steps before jamming a kunai in the off balanced ninja's stomach. Not quite dead the enemy ninja grabs onto the Konoha-nin's arm and holds it with a surprising amount of strength for a dying person. "Take him out now!" At his enemy's shout the man narrows his one open eye before breaking out of the grip and ripping the kunai out of his opponent's stomach. Kicking his enemy in the face and jumping back the Konoha-nin looks for any sign of his last enemy, but the snow thrown up earlier serves to hide his enemy as well as himself.

As the snow finishes falling back to the ground the Konoha-nin sees his last enemy impaled with tree roots. Another man with a Konoha hitai-ite walks out from behind a tree and calls out, "Seventeen."

Opening his right eye and pulling his hitai-ite down over the left the first man says, "Looks like I win again then Tenzo. I got twenty-three."

"So what is it? Five to three now Kakashi?"

"Yep, and since this is the last patrol before our mission is over it looks like you lose the bet. You better be ready to pay up when we get back."

Watching the now one-eyed man pull out an orange book while smiling behind a mask Tenzo complains, "I can't believe you're actually holding me to that bet."

"Why not?"

"We made it years ago on our first mission here together."

"So?"

"Why the hell are you holding me to such an old bet?"

"Because I can, and besides we never stated a time limit on the bet."

"Can't you at least not make me go through with the parts of the bet concerning Anko?"

"We'll see."

* * *

In a vast desert a group of about ten Suna ninja was surrounded by nearly two hundred ninja from various other villages, with ninja from Iwagakure and Otogakure making up most of the force. "Turn over the Kazekage and we'll let you live."

"Run away now and you might live."

"Get them!"

"Kankuro don't bother disguising them, bring all your puppets out. Temari make sure nobody gets too close to him. I'll take the hundred on the right while you two take the hundred on the left."

"Alright Gaara I guess it's time to show them why you don't mess with a puppeteer."

"Kankuro stop making so much hot air, I know your just trying to help my jutsu out but it isn't necessary."

"Hey stop mocking us! We have you outnumbered twenty to one!"

"Actually it was closer to sixty-six to one, but it is already down to sixty to one. **Sabaku Sousou**." Twenty non-sand ninja were crushed into bloody ooze by Gaara's jutsu as he spoke. The gathered ninja stood shocked at how quickly he killed them before attacking with various methods. The seven nondescript ninja accompanying Gaara and his siblings were quickly revealed to be puppets under Kankuro's control. These seven were quickly joined by Karasu, Kuraori, and Salamander. The enemy ninja fell with ease to Kankuro's ten puppets, but the slaughter they caused amongst the enemy was nothing compared to the groups of enemy shinobi reduced to bloody chunks by Temari's devastating wind jutsu. The two quickly took care of half of the ninja Gaara assigned to them before they had to start fighting seriously due to the skill those remaining showed. Gaara however brutally delt with those unfortunate enough to have become his targets. The ninja facing the Kazekage were mostly killed in short order by a combination of spikes of sand, being buried under sand, having sand strike them with incredible force, and being crushed by Gaara's sand. Gaara's portion of the battlefield seemed to be a living thing as he manipulated the desert itself to attack his foes.

Once the enemy forces were down to about forty ninja things became difficult for the three. With the less skilled and weaker ninja dead the remaining forty could use their full skills and began a ferocious counterattack on the siblings. The enemy ninja avoided Kankuro's puppets instead of fighting them, they closed with Temari to engage her in taijutsu, and they used various raiton jutsu to break through Gaara's defenses. Kankuro was the least effected by the change in the pace of battle as it just meant he had to use his puppets to chase down his foes instead of letting them come to him. Temari became rather bloody in a hurry due to the change, but most of the blood was just the blood of her enemies staining her clothes and fan. Gaara actually was injured, this was more because most of the surviving enemies were focusing on him then due to the ration jutsu however. Even with the sudden increase of effort put forth by the enemy ninja they were quickly reduced to just one survivor.

The last enemy ninja was a sound ninja and apparently one of Orochimaru's elite. When all her allies had fallen she activated a curse seal to its second level. Her first attack was against Kankuro, she moved with incredible speed and kicked him in the head. The blow sent him flying and knocked him out. She next went after Temari. Temari was ready for the kunoichi and stopped a devastating punch with her closed fan. The sound kunoichi was forced to break off her attack when Gaara tried to catch her with his sand. She used her speed to get through Gaara's sand shield and then ripped through his sand armor with her claws. She only managed a slight scratch on his chest and a kick to his jaw before Temari knocked the kunoichi away with a heavy blow from her fan. Kankuro regained conciousness just in time to force the curse seal using enemy back. While Kankuro distracted the sound ninja with his puppets Temari began performing her **Kuchiyose : Kirikrimai**. As Temari unleased her summoned weasel on the sound ninja Kankuro called his puppets back. The jutsu kicked up a large amount of sand and shredded the numerous corpses in the area, but none of the siblings could tell if it got the sound kunoichi. Kankuro stood ready with his puppets before the other two, Temari held her fan ready to unleash another jutsu, and Gaara swirled the sand kicked up, into clusters that could quickly be turned into **Suna Shuriken** and launched at the enemy. When the sound kunoichi walked out of the obscuring sand clouds they tensed, but as she approached they saw the discoloration of her skin was no longer due to an active curse seal, but due to the blood coating her. As they realized this she fell to the ground, dead.

"Should we be concerned that they're sending curse mark bearers or should we be insulted that they only sent one to kill Gaara?"

"Neither, the people Orochimaru gives his cursed seal to are only a little less pathetic then the rest of his forces."

"Temari, Kankuro, return to the rest of the forces. Tell them to continue their current course of actions. You two will join them until I reunite with them. Go, I have a different mission to perform."

"Good luck Gaara."

"Don't take too long little brother."

The winds picked up and a small sandstorm obscured the three from view. When it died down the three were gone and the bodies of their enemies lay hidden beneath the desert sands.

* * *

Appearing behind an Iwa-nin, Naruto quickly cut his throat with a kunai. As the body fell to the sand Naruto looked over his team. "You got all of them?"

"Yes."

"How many more of these patrols are we going to take out before we meet up with the Suna ninja?"

"As many as we find." As he looked over his team for injuries and his fallen enemies for anything useful Naruto felt someone approach. The ninja appeared in the middle of the Konoha-nin and their dead enemies with a flicker of movement and a swirl of sand. As he got a look at the possible enemy Naruto relaxed his guard. "Gaara? What are you doing here?"

With his usually impassive look in place Gaara turned to Naruto and said, "I'm the Kazekage. Why shouldn't I be here?"

A smile appeared on Naruto's face at that and he relaxed his guard fully. When he saw his team was still on guard he signaled them to stand down, which they did. "So Gaara, did you know that I was here or we you just looking for some enemy ninja to take out the frustrations of your job on?"

"I came here to meet up with you. We need to deal with the patrols and various other groups of invaders in Wind Country before we meet up with my forces and go on the offensive."

"What will your ninja be doing while we hunt down enemies?"

"The same thing as us. They'll just be doing it in larger groups with a concentrated effort. Hopefully they'll attribute any disappearance of their troops to just me and any squads sent after me won't be prepared for all of us."

"Sounds like a plan, but it seems to be missing something."

"Its not like you have a better one Naruto-sensei."

"Good point. Alright, where to first Gaara?"

"Doton jutsu were used to make a fortress of sorts by the enemy. They use it as a forward base. It will be our first target."

* * *

Hakaiteki and Gaara appeared in front of a small fortress made of rock and sand without a sound. Hakaiteki quickly fixed this by using his jutsu to turn the chakra in the door of the fortress into heat. The door promptly exploded into a large fireball. Gaara shielded them with his sand as Naruto and Nobori charged through the opening and engaged the enemy. Imei appeared beside Hakaiteki grabbed him and both of them disappeared. Gaara just stood there and made spikes of sand impale anything trying to leave.

As he pulled a kunai out of an enemy's throat Naruto said, "Think there is anyone in here capable of being a challenge?"

Slicing a pair of Chunin in half Nobori spoke, "Doubtful. They considered Wind Country already conquered and thus left only a guard force behind. If you want a challenge you should head to Iwagakure itself at least. Even then the chances of a worthy opponent being found are low."

"Why?"

"Iwa is little more then a shell of what it once was. It is doubtful anyone of significance will be there. Unless of course they find out you are going there with minimal backup, then we will likely encounter Hyuuga Hiashi at the very least."

Creating some clones to explore the rest of the fortress Naruto and Nobori charged into its depths while eliminating any enemy ninja they encountered with ease. Outside the innermost chamber they met up with Hakaiteki and Imei. Upon seeing them Imei said, "You're late."

"Well you see we had to stop and kill a bunch of ninja wannabes every now and then on the way here."

"Naruto-sensei, if you're going to lie at least make it believable. You wouldn't need to stop to kill ninja wannabes."

"Hakaiteki have you set the place to blow up yet?"

"I'm insulted! All these missions we've done together and you ask me such a thing. For shame Nobori."

"Naruto-sensei, please use **Hiraishin no Jutsu** to get us out of here before giving Hakaiteki the order to blow it up."

"Sure, now lets clear out this room and finish looking for useful information."

Nobori cut through the door and Naruto kicked it in just before Imei and Hakaiteki rushed past him and began to kill the few Jounin inside. Hakaiteki even managed to avoid using to many explosions. They still found no useful information, like troop positions or Iwagakure's defenses, but after Naruto got them out of the fortress and Gaara protected them from the oversized explosion it caused when it blew up everyone still considered it a success.

* * *

Sabaku Sousou - Desert Funeral

Kuchiyose : Kirikirimai - Summoning : Whirl

Suna Shuriken - Sand Shuriken

Hiraishin no Jutsu - Flying Thunder God Technique


End file.
